This ideological position is the most committed to the issues of equal opportunities and
anti-racist mathematics teaching, and is the only perspective to perceive the problems
of racial education fully, with their epistemological and socio-political dimensions.
However, this approach can lead to problems and conflicts. These include, first of all,
the conflict.: between instrumental goals (mastering the routine aspects of mathematics,
preparing for external examinations) versus social goals (studying mathematics for its
intrinsic power in providing thinking tools). This is not merely a conflict of classroom
aims, but may also be a conflict between cultures of schooling (Mellin-Olsen, 1981