The well-known international journal L'Enseignement Mathématique was established in 1899 by Henri Fehr and Charles Laisant. The idea of internationalism in mathematics education, crucial to the journal right from its beginning, led a few years later to the creation of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction during the 1908 International Congress of Mathematicians in Rome. L'Enseignement Mathématique has been the official organ of ICMI ever since that time. During these one hundred years, mathematics education has undergone profound changes marked by decisive developments in the evolution of mathematics and in the organization and structure of the school systems throughout the world.

On the occasion of the centennial of the journal, it was felt appropriate to hold a symposium with the aims of looking at the evolution of mathematics education over the last century and identifying some guidelines and trends for the future, taking into account, among other sources, the documents, debates and related papers having appeared in L'Enseignement Mathématique. This symposium took place in Geneva, the home of the journal since its birth, in October 2000.