Re-thinking ‘normal’ development in the early learning of number

In this article we suggest that, notwithstanding noted differences, one unmarked similarity across psychology and mathematics education is the continued dominance of the view that there is a ‘normal’ path of development. We focus particularly on the case of the early learning of number and point to evidence that puts into question the dominant narrative of how number sense develops through the concrete and the cardinal. Recent neuroscience findings have raised the potential significance of ordinal approaches to learning number, which in privileging the symbolic—and hence the abstract—reverse one aspect of the ‘normal’ development order. We draw on empirical evidence to suggest that what children can do, and in what order, is sensitive to, among other things, the curriculum approach—and also the tools they have at their disposition. We draw out implications from our work for curriculum organisation in the early years of schooling, to disrupt taken-for-granted paths.

A review of the structure and training pathways for obstetric medicine physicians in Australia and New Zealand

In recent decades, women with significant medical conditions have increasingly chosen to become pregnant. This has broadened and intensified the interface between obstetrics and internal medicine, a collaboration which has always needed cooperation but which increasingly demands open discussion and planning to ensure optimal outcomes for mother and fetus. The aims of this article are to describe the state of obstetric medicine practice in Australia and New Zealand, including its history and development, the training and education curriculum, organisation of its service delivery, and potential opportunities for research and collaboration.