Recent Discussions on Implementation Research at CERME12

The primary concern of Implementation and Replication Studies in Mathematics Education (IRME), is the development of a vibrant environment around research and development in implementation and replication studies in mathematics education. The Thematic Working Group 23 (TWG23) entitled “Implementation of research findings in mathematics education” at the three last Congresses of ERME (European Society for Research in Mathematics Education) has had an important impact on developing implementation research (IR) in mathematics education research (MER). In this editorial, we provide an extended report from TWG23 at CERME12, the twelfth Congress of ERME. TWG23 was led by IRME’s three associate editors, Mario Sánchez Aguilar (chair), Boris Koichu and Morten Misfeldt, along with two younger researchers, Rikke Maagaard Gregersen (until August 2021) and Linda Marie Ahl (from September 2021). Linda Marie Ahl was invited to co-author this editorial, which is an extensive report from this year’s TWG23.

Due to the Covid-19 situation, CERME12 was held virtually. TWG23 consisted of eight sessions involving presentations of papers and posters as well as three thematic discussions among the group’s 21 participants from 12 different countries. This was the third time that TWG23 took place, and the group has now proven somewhat stable in terms of participant number and contributions. We will say more about the evolution of the group in the next section of the editorial, but it is important to be aware of the value of the work of this TWG for the existence and evolution of IRME. (This was already acknowledged by Michèle Artigue (2021) in her overview of theoretical resources for implementation research in mathematics education in the very first issue of IRME.)

In the present editorial, we will first describe the evolution of the work on IR in the context of CERME, and then we will describe the contributions at CERME12’s TWG23. Afterwards we will describe three overarching themes that were discussed at this year’s meeting in TWG23: (1) the role of change and theory of change; (2) matters of scaling; and (3) the conception of stakeholders. These three themes are also used to situate the four papers in this issue of IRME, since they all are extensions of studies presented at this year’s CERME12 (TWG23). The editorial concludes with several observations and considerations about the next steps for IR in mathematics education in general and for the TWG23 at CERME in particular.