The approach tries to empower students on their way to developing a positive mathematics identity and becoming active, numerically literate citizens who can navigate and participate in society.
[3] Its proponents, for example, Bob Moses,[4] may understand numerical literacy as a civil right.
[6] Their educational approach is influenced by earlier critical pedagogy advocates such as Paulo Freire and others.
[11] Pedagogical approaches incorporating issues of social justice into mathematics classrooms have been heavily criticised by some mathematicians and educators.
[12] They argue that mathematics is neutral and that its education and research should be separated from issues of social justice.