The 10th British Congress of Mathematics Education, BCME 10, will take place at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th October 2026. Because of the pandemic, it’s eight years since the last BCME, so a bit of background is probably helpful.
BCME conferences were originally conceptualised as national mathematics education research conferences interleaved with the four-yearly International ICME conferences, and supporting development of national contributions to ICME, especially those that were practice-informed. Over time, they evolved to be more inclusive of practitioners in all phases of UK education, but still retain a research-and-practice focus – and that’s very true of BCME 10, which takes as its theme ‘Research and practice in partnership’. Responsibility for BCME now rests with the Joint Mathematical Council, but is delegated to a BCME committee drawn from BSRLM and the now-unified UK mathematics education professional body, AMiE. The BCME format will be not dissimilar to that of a BSRLM day conference with plenaries and a number of parallel sessions of varying types, but over two days.
So why should BSRLM members want to attend BCME 10? Well, as a veteran of I think seven previous BCMEs, I suggest there are several reasons:
- Much of our research is either driven, or developed in collaboration with, teachers. A further body is either ‘close to practice’ (Wyse et al., 2020) or what I call ‘classroom-close’, with a central aim of, directly or indirectly, contributing to better teaching and learning of mathematics. A conference such as BCME is a gold-plated opportunity to disseminate and validate findings and further develop our thinking around the implications and limitations of our research.
- These entirely face to face research-practice conferences are really ‘buzzy’ and recharging, and, though it sounds an extravagant claim, inspirational, keeping us grounded in the fundamental rationales for our work and through our interactions, strengthening our wider mathematics education community. They are also great fun, offering opportunities for cross-phase professional learning, research inspiration, and hands-on mathematical activity.
- The programme promises to be excellent: we have four great plenary speakers lined up, a wide variety of stimulating session proposals emerging, and a social-with-a-hint-of maths Friday evening planned.
- Dissemination: accepted proposals focused on research may be developed into short papers that can be submitted for the peer-reviewed and BSRLM-hosted BCME 10 Proceedings. BSRLM has appointed an excellent cross-institutional editorial team for the Proceedings, led by Jennie Ingram.
- Further proposals for sessions, workshops, round tables, posters… and especially those focused on a research-practice interface are welcome until 5th May 2026: see British Congress of Mathematics Education 10 | Submit an Abstract .
BCME 10 will take the place of the usual Autumn BSRLM conference, in 2026. Although the venue and organisational model adopted is a little more expensive than that for a BSRLM day conference, BSRLM (and AMiE) members are eligible for reduced conference rates. Some bursaries are available – for details see British Congress of Mathematics Education 10 – and there are special rates for block bookings. Registration opens shortly: I look forward to seeing you there, and promise you won’t be disappointed!
References:
Wyse, D., Brown, C., Oliver, S., & Poblete, X. (2021). Education research and educational practice: The qualities of a close relationship. British Educational Research Journal, 47(6), 1466–1489. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3626