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Mathematics EducationOne of the strengths of mathematics lies in the universalnature of the results. However, before reachingthe status of universality, each mathematical conceptfirst emerges in a particular cultural context and is enrichedby the contributions of various civilisations thathave contributed to its development and diffusion. Thus,depending on the period, various civilisations have hada leading role in the mathematical discoveries and disseminationof older concepts. The Maghreb (especiallythe territory that is now Algeria) was, at a turning pointin history, one of the important places in the developmentand dissemination of mathematics throughout theMediterranean region. The most famous examples arethe popularisation of the positional decimal system inthe 9th century and its circulation through the Maghreband Europe and also the development of symbolisationfor scoring fractions and writing equations and the developmentof combinatorics.This movement between the plurality of cultural rootsand universality of mathematics is found in many aspectsin teaching and learning mathematics. On the one hand,in the construction of knowledge the student meets theconcept in specific situations; then a necessary contextualisation/depersonalisationleads to the institutionalisationof knowledge. On the other hand, universal knowledgeis not taught directly but undergoes changes atdifferent levels of the chain of didactic transposition. Towhat extent are cultural roots being taken into accountin these transformations? Is it necessary to consider thiscultural dimension and how? To what extent would thecontextualisation of mathematical concepts in their culturaldimension possibly promote student learning? TheInternational Programme Committee of this conferenceis chaired by Laurent Theis (Université de Sherbrooke,Canada) with Ahmed Djebbar (Université de Lille,France) as vice-chair and Rachid Bebbouchi (UniversityHouari Boumediene, Alger) at the head of the localorganisation. Further information is available from thewebsite http://www.mathunion.org/ICMI > news or fromJean-Luc Dorier (Jean-Luc.Dorier@unige.ch), who is amember of the International Programme Committee.Educating the educators: Conference oninternational approaches to scaling-upprofessional development in maths and scienceeducation15–16 December 2014 in Essen, GermanyThe European project mascil (Mathematics and Sciencefor life!) and the German Centre for Mathematics TeacherEducation (DZLM) are pleased to host a conferenceat the University of Duisburg-Essen in the northwest ofGermany.This is the first international conference specificallydevoted to the topic of educating the educators (such asteachers, teacher educators and the educators of teachereducators as well as multipliers and institutions engagedin teacher professional development) in particular in relationto disseminating innovative teaching approaches,such as inquiry-based learning. It will serve as a lever andplatform for international exchange about concepts andexperiences concerning questions such as: ‘What are thefeatures of successful concepts and professional development?What are the needs and experiences of the differenttarget groups? Which pitfalls have to be avoided?’This international conference will connect researchersand practitioners engaged in the fields of maths andscience education in order to discuss concepts of scaling-upteacher professional development. Please visithttp://educating-the-educators.ph-freiburg.de for regularlyupdated information about the conference. We arelooking forward to receiving your contributions. Furtherinformation can also be obtained from Günter Törner(guenter.toerner@uni-due.de), Chair of the EMS-Committeeof Education.ERME Column, May 2014Viviane Durand-Guerrier (ERME President, Université de Montpellier 2, France)CERME 8-proceedingsThe 8th Congress of European Research in MathematicsEducation (CERME 8) took place in Antalya, Turkey,6-12 February 2013. The publication of the proceedingswas carried out by Maria Alessandra Mariotti (Chair ofthe CERME8-IPC), Behiye Ubuz (Chair of the CERM8-Loc) and Çiğdem Haser, with the collaboration of theWorking Group leaders and co-leaders. The proceedingshave been published by Middle East Technical University,Ankara, Turkey, on behalf of the ERME. They areavailable on the website of the ERME alongside the proceedingsof all previous CERMEs: http://www.mathematik.uni-dortmund.de/~erme/.News from CERME 9The 9th Congress of European Research in MathematicsEducation (CERME 9) will take place in Prague (CzechRepublic), 4–8 February 2015.Konrad Krainer (Austria) is the Chair of the IPC(International Programme Committee), which is composedof Jorryt Van Bommel (Sweden), Marianna Bosch(Spain), Jason Cooper (Israel), Andreas Eichler (Germany),Ghislaine Gueudet (France), Marja van der Heuvel-Panhuizen (the Netherlands), Uffe Jankvist (Denmark,Co-Chair), Maria-Alessandra Mariotti (Italy), DespinaPotari (Greece), Ewa Swoboda (Poland), Nad’a Vondrová(Czech Republic) and Carl Winsløw (Denmark).52 EMS Newsletter June 2014