ABSTRACT
Education research is a dominant space in current Western educational discourse. The role of the expert academic, whilst often queried by politicians, governs teacher education programmes. This chapter examines the production of the mathematical child through an analysis of mathematics education research. A way that mathematics education research constructs the romantic child is though specialness. For many in mathematics education research, the special mathematician is not part of its acknowledged discourses; however, it is indirectly constructed by the way that their acknowledged discourses operate. More recent trends in mathematics education research, particularly those associated with direct governance, and 'impact', could be seen as a threat to the 'romantic' child of mathematics education. The preference for the 'active learner' of mathematics education has been an integral part of mathematics education research from its inception to the present day, with very few in mathematics education acknowledging their own role in its production.
