The Mathematical Association is a professional society concerned with mathematics education in the UK. The Mathematical Association has a long history of promoting the very best in learning and teaching Mathematics, they actively engage in consultation and discussions on issues currently affecting Mathematics education. The Mathematical Association respond professionally and constructively to ministerial announcements and to proposals from the Department for Education, and from bodies concerned with curricula, assessment and training. The association comments on inquiry reports, academic research findings and reports published by organisations and learned bodies supporting Mathematics in Britain. Occasionally, The Mathematical Association adopts position papers prompted by discussions amongst ordinary members, and at their committees. The Association hopes to have something distinctive to say on Mathematics curriculum and pedagogy, formative and summative assessment, inspection, the dissemination of quality assurance information, and the training, expertise, professional development, recruitment and retention of Mathematics teachers.
It was founded in 1871 as the Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching and renamed to the Mathematical Association in 1894. It was the first teachers' subject organisation formed in England. In March 1927, it held a three-day meeting in Grantham to commemorate the bicentenary of the death of Sir Isaac Newton, attended by Sir J. J. Thomson (discoverer of the electron), Sir Frank Watson Dyson – the Astronomer Royal, Sir Horace Lamb, and G. H. Hardy.
In the 1960s, when comprehensive education was being introduced, the Association was in favour of the 11-plus system. For maths teachers training at university, a teaching award that was examined was the Diploma of the Mathematical Association, later known as the Diploma in Mathematical Education of the Mathematical Association.
It exists to "bring about improvements in the teaching of mathematics and its applications, and to provide a means of communication among students and teachers of mathematics". Since 1894 it has published The Mathematical Gazette. It jointly hosts the British Congress of Mathematics Education conference which is held every 4 years in April, situated at different universities each year. This combined conference is supported by the following associations and societies:
Junior Mathematical Challenge
Association of Teachers of Mathematics
The Mathematical Association
National STEM Centre
MEI - Innovators in Mathematics Education
The Operational Research Society
Royal Statistical Society
Edinburgh Mathematical Society
The Higher Education Academy
British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics
Heads of Department of Mathematical Sciences
Royal Academy of Engineering
National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics
The London Mathematical Society
British Society for the History of Mathematics
The Association of Mathematics Education Teachers
National Association of Mathematics Advisers
Institute of Mathematics & its Applications
It is based in the south-east of Leicester on London Road (A6), just south of the Charles Frears campus of De Montfort University.
Aside from the Council, it has seven other specialist committees.
Its branches are sometimes shared with the ATM:
Birmingham
Cambridge
East Midlands
Glasgow
Gloucester
Liverpool
London
Marches
Meridian (southern England)
Sheffield
Sussex
Yorkshire
Past presidents of The Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching included:
1871 T A Hirst PhD, FRS
1878 R B Hayward MA, FRS
1889 Professor G M Minchin MA, FRS
1891 Professor J J Sylvester MA, DSc, LID, DC
1892 The Reverend C Taylor DD
1893 R Wormell MA, DSc
1895 Professor Sir Joseph Larmor MA, DSc, FRS
Past presidents of The Mathematical Association have included:
1897 Alfred Lodge
1899 Professor Sir Robert S Ball LID, FRS
1900 Sir Robert Ball, FRS
1901 John Fletcher Moulton
1903 Andrew Russell Forsyth
1905 George Ballard Mathews
1907 G H Bryan MA, ScD, FRS
1909–1910 H H Turner
1911–1912 E W Hobson
1913–1914 A G Greenhill
1915–1916 A N Whitehead
1918–1919 T P Nunn
1920 E T Whittaker
1921 J M Wilson
1922–1923 T L Heath
1924–1925 G H Hardy
1926–1927 M J M Hill
1928–1929 W F Sheppard
1930–1931 A S Eddington
1932–1933 G N Watson
1934 E H Neville
1935 A W Siddons
1936 A R Forsyth
1937 L N G Filon
1938 W Hope-Jones
1939 W C Fletcher
1944 C O Tuckey MA
1945 Professor S Chapman DSC, FRs
1946 Warin Foster Bushell
1947 George Barker Jeffery
1948 Sir Harold Spencer Jones MA, ScD, FRS
1949 A Robson MA
1950 Professor H R Hasse MA, DSc
1951 Mary Cartwright
1952 K S Snell MA
1953 Professor T A A Broadbent MA
1954 W V D Hodge
1955 G L Parsons MA
1956 George Frederick James Temple
1957 W J Langford JP, MSc
1958 Max Newman
1959 Miss L D Adams BSc
1960 E.A. Maxwell
1961 J T Combridge MA, MSc
1962 Professor V C A Ferraro PhD, DIC
1963 J B Morgan MA
1964 Miss I W Busbridge MA, DPhil, DSc
1965 Mrs E M Williams CBE, MA
1966 F W Kellaway BSc
1967 A.P. Rollett
1968 C.A. Coulson
1969 Lady Jeffreys MA, PhD
1970 James Lighthill
1971 B T Bellis MA, FRSE, FIMA
1972 C T Daltry BSc, FIMA
1973 Professor W H Mccrea MA, PhD, DSc, FRS
1974 Mrs M Hayman MA, MPhil, FIMA
1975 Reuben Goodstein
1976 E Kerr BSc, PhD, FIMA, FBCS
1977 Professor G Matthews MA, PhD, FIMA
1978 Alan Tammadge MA, FIMA
1979 Clive W. Kilmister
1980 D A Quadling MA, FIMA, later OBE
1981 Michael Atiyah FRS later Sir Michael
1982 F J Budden BSc
1983 Rolph Ludwig Edward SchwarzenbergerMA, PhD
1984 P B Coaker BSc, ARCS, DIC, FIMA, FBCS
1985 Miss H B Shuard MA, MSc, FIMA
1986 Mrs A Straker BSc, MSc, later OBE
1987 Dr M E Rayner MA, DPhil, MSc, later MBE
1988 A.G. Howson
1989 Mr Peter Reynolds MA
1990 Professor Margaret L Brown MA, PhD
1991 Dr Alan J Bishop
1992 Mr John Hersee MA
1993 Dr William Wynne-Wilson BA, PhD
1994 Miss Mary Bradburn
1995 E. Roy Ashley
1996 W. P. Richardson
1997 Tony Gardiner
1998 Professor J Chris Robson
1999 John S Berry
2000 Mr Stephen Abbott BSc, MSc
2001 Dr Sue Sanders Cert.Ed, BA, MEd, PhD
2002 Mr Barry Lewis BSc, BA, FIMA
2003 Professor Sir Christopher Zeeman FRS
2004 Professor Adam McBride
2005 Mrs Sue Singer BA
2006 Mr Doug French
2007 Mr Rob Eastaway
2008 Mr Robert Barbour
2009 Mrs Jane Imrie
2010 David Acheson
2011 Dr Paul Andrews
2012 Professor Marcus Du Sautoy
2013 Peter Ransom
2014 Lynne McClure
2015 Peter M. Neumann
2016 Dr Jennie Golding (Current President)
2017 Mr Tom Roper (President Designate)
