School Mathematics Curriculum Change: Challenges and Required Research

In the recent decades, school mathematics curriculum reforms have taken place in many countries. Although the contexts of these reforms differ significantly, research could reveal much informative facts about them. For instance, there is a tendency for many countries to include curriculum standards of developed countries in their national curricula. Due to the special role and nature of mathematics, this tendency can be seen even more in this subject. As result, it is expected mathematical literacy of students across the countries does not differs dramatically, which can be consider as a positive aspect. However, we cannot ignore the negative aspects of this adoption as well. In this article, after making a distinction between curriculum change and curriculum reform, the influential factors on school mathematics curriculum reforms since the second half of the 20th century onward, and the challenges which have been caused by them will be reviewed. Then, by refer to the international studies, the required research for reform the school mathematics curriculum will be discussed.