Report on the work of the International Symposium on School Mathematics Teaching. Budapest, 27 Aug.-8 Sept. 1962 (Budapest, 1963)

The preparation and organization of the symposium

THE PREPARATION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE SYMPOSIUM As a result of the rapid development of mathematical knowledge and the increasing importance of mathematics in the world today, a radical and thor­ough revision of the school mathematics curriculum has become necessary. This is one of the reasons which led the Hungarian Government to ask for Unesco’s assistance in organizing an international symposium in Budapest to deal with the problems involved in reforming mathematics teaching in schools. Aided by the results of similar conferences and symposia held in various countries the Hungarian Government hoped to arrive at some solutions of the problems which confront teachers and educational administrators. The organization of this symposium was approved by Unesco under its Participation Programme of 1961 —1962, and it was decided to hold it in 1962. In 1961, Mr. P. C. Bandyopadhyay, of the Department of Education of Unesco, held meetings with representatives from the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Education, the Hungarian National Commission for Unesco and the Bolyai János Mathematical Society to work out details concerning the symposium. As a result of these discussions it teas decided that: (1) the symposium would deal with the following three themes: (a) the mathematics curriculum; (b) teaching methods and their psychological background; (c) training and re-training of mathematics teachers; (2) Unesco should -commission background papers from experts on these themes, these papers should be distributed in advance to all participants. The symposium would run for two weeks, and would discuss these papers and make recommendations. (3) The number of participants from outside Hungary would be restricted to a maximum of 18 to ensure that exchanges of views were effective and dis­cussions fruitful. These participants should be chosen from amongst mathema­ticians, teachers, psychologists and educationists, and in their selection as large a number of countries as possible should be represented. The Symposium was held in Budapest in the House of Science and Technol­ogy from 27 August to 8 September 1962. It was inaugurated by Mr. József Bencédy, Head of Department at the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and 5

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