Draft:Ole Skovsmose

Ole Skovsmose is a mathematics educator, philosopher, and artist. He was born in 1944 in Hjørring, a small town in northern Denmark. He is acknowledged for his studies in critical mathematics education and, within this field, his research especially addresses the following themes: landscapes of investigation, dialogue, students’ foreground, inclusive mathematics education, pedagogical imagination, mathematics in action, philosophy of mathematics education, and philosophy of mathematics. He is an emeritus professor at the Department of Culture and Learning at Aalborg University, Denmark, and a volunteer professor at the Graduate Program in Mathematics Education at the Sao Paulo State University (Unesp), Rio Claro campus. As an artist, he has exhibited his works in galleries and museums around the world, and he is a member of the Association Internationale des Arts Plastiques and the Danish Association of Visual Artists (Billedkunstnernes Forbund).

Biography
Ole Skovsmose lived in the town of Hjørring until he was 24 years old. There he attended Folkeskole (equivalent to Elementary School). Since his youth he has been drawing and painting and has always worked with children. Before dedicating himself to teaching, he was also a handball coach and an employee at a surveying company. His father worked as a low-paid tailor as an employee in a workshop; and his mother was dedicated to domestic activities. After Folkeskole, he studied at Hjørring Teacher Training College, with an emphasis on studies in mathematics. There he graduated as a teacher in 1967. In 1968, Skovsmose started studying at University of Copenhagen and teaching mathematics. From 1972 he taught mathematics at a teacher training college in Copenhagen. In 1975, he completed a Master's Degree in philosophy and mathematics at the University of Copenhagen. The same year, he was introduced to a translation of the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire. Both this reading and the German discussion of kritische mathematik-unterriecht (critical mathematics education) that were circulating at the time, inspired him. In 1982 he accomplished a Doctorate in mathematics education at the Royal Danish School of Educational Studies, defending the thesis “Kritik, matematik og undervisning” (“Criticism, mathematics, and education”), under the supervision of Bent Christiansen. In this way, Ole Skovsmose became the first doctor in mathematics education in Denmark. In 1995 Skovsmose accomplished a Dr. Science at Aalborg University, defending the thesis Towards a Philosophy of Critical Mathematics Education. At Aalborg University he worked for 25 years first as an associate professor and later as a full professor. He currently holds the position there as professor emeritus. Ole Skovsmose's ideas are present in more than 50 books, including authored books, book chapters, and edited books. They are as well elaborated in more than 150 scientific articles, as an author or in co-authorship. Currently, he lives in São Paulo, Brazil, working as a volunteer professor at the Graduate Program in Mathematics Education at the São Paulo State University (Unesp), Rio Claro campus, acting especially in supervising doctoral students. He is the father of two children and married to mathematics educator Miriam Godoy Penteado.

Artistic work
Parallel to his work as an educator and academic, Ole Skovsmose is an artist. He has held exhibitions in galleries and museums in England, USA, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Norway, Bulgaria, Brazil, and Denmark, as, for instance, Lessedra Art Gallery (Bulgaria), Carrousel du Louvre (France), and the Museu Histórico Nacional (Brazil). In 2015 Skovsmose also presented works during the European and Latin American Biennial of Contemporary Art, and at the time was interviewed by TV Brasil. He has participated in several collaborative artistic projects, combining music and painting. He is a member of the Association Internationale des Arts Plastiques. In the book Saudade, one can read about the history of some of his paintings, including those that are part of the projects: Faces as Landscapes, Touching the Horizon, and The Four Graces.

Theoretical contributions
Since his first academic work, Ole Skovsmose has addressed the socio-political aspects of mathematics education and mathematics in general, publishing a lot of works and taking part in collaborative projects. For instance, he joined the international research group BaCoMET (Basic Components of Mathematics Education for Teachers) which included the mathematics educators Alan Bishop, Guy Brousseau, Geoffrey Howson, Celia Hoyles, Jeremy Kilpatrick, and Michael Otte. Together with Celia Hoyles and Jeremy Kilpatrick, he was the director of this project which resulted in the book "Meaning in Mathematics Education".

All his works led to the development of several notions and concepts, for instance, critical mathematics education, landscapes of investigation, students’ foregrounds, inclusive mathematics education, pedagogical imagination, mathematics in action, philosophy of mathematics. The book Critical Mathematics Education: Past, Present, and Future, by H.Alrø, O Ravn and P. Valero presents Ole Skovsmose as the most important name in developing the notion of critical mathematics education.

Notability
In addition to his work at different universities, and being professor emeritus at Aalborg University, Ole Skovsmose was part of many research and training missions in Europe, America and Africa. In this continent, he was co-organizer of the South Africa Project including cooperation between South Africa and Denmark. He has supervised more than 20 PhD projects in several countries, and his main concepts are part of academic studies in countries such as India, Brazil, South Africa, Colombia, Chile, United States, Denmark and Germany. In Brazil, three of his PhD students received awards and honorable mentions,  with work related to critical mathematics education. He has served on eight editorial boards, including For the Learning of Mathematics and Mathematics Education Research Journal. He has given lectures in several countries, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Norway, Sweden, USA, England, Hungary, Iceland, South Africa, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Denmark. During the XII Mathematics Education and Society (MES 12), in 2023, Ole Skosmose was honored in recognition of all his work dedicated to Mathematics Education.