Bye-Laws of IGPME

Bye Laws

Name of CIO: International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME)

Bye Laws of the CIO as authorised by Clause 26 of the Constitution

1.  Affiliation 

  • PME has been granted formal recognition as an official subgroup by the International Commission for Mathematical Instruction (ICMI). This does not imply any financial or other commitment on the part of PME.
  • Regional or national groups whose aims agree closely with those of the Group may be recognized as “affiliated to PME”.

2.  Membership

  • Any person, corporation, or unincorporated organization involved, or interested, in active research of mathematics education can be a member.
  • All members will be subject to the regulations of the Constitution and the bye laws, and by joining PME will be deemed to accept these regulations and the codes of practice that PME has adopted.
  • Members will pay a yearly membership The fee for the following year will be determined at the general meeting. Payment of the membership can be made:
    • directly to PME; or
    • as part of the registration fee for the Annual
  • The membership period is from January 1 – December 31 or from the time you register for the Annual Conference through the December following the annual conference.
  • The charity trustees, and only the charity trustees, may nominate an individual who has made distinguished contributions to PME to become an Honorary Member of The decision to grant Honorary Membership to an individual must be made by the members of PME as per Clause 10 of the Constitution. Current honorary members have been and are:
    • Efraim Fischbein (deceased)
    • Hans Freudenthal (deceased)
    • Joop Van Dormolen

3.  Election of trustees

  • A candidate for a trustee must:
    • be a member of PME at the time of election;
    • not be in violation of clause 3(c) of the constitution
  • A candidate must be nominated by two PME members at least 24 hours before the beginning of the Annual General Meeting of the members.
  • In the election the member will vote for as many candidates as there are trustees to be elected. If n new trustees need to be elected, a member has to give points to exactly n different candidates to conduct a valid vote. These n candidates must be ranked by giving n, n-1, …, 1 points. If there are more than n candidates, the other candidates will get zero points from this member.
  • The candidates receiving most votes are elected, unless that would violate the clause 12.3 (c) of the constitution. If that would happen, the next candidate on the list will be elected instead.
  • Further details about organizing the election are determined by the trustees.

4.  Roles among the Charity Trustees

  • After every Annual General Meeting the charity trustees shall elect:
    • one trustee as the Vice-President
    • one trustee as the Treasurer
    • one trustee as the Secretary
    • one trustee as the Policy Chair
  • A trustee shall not hold more than one such role.
  • The Vice-President can be re-elected The Treasurer, Secretary, and Policy Chair may be re-elected on the condition they are a members of the charity trustees.
  • The remaining charity trustees shall be elected onto one of:
    • Vice-President’s portfolio group
    • Treasurer’s portfolio group
    • Secretary’s portfolio group
    • Policy Chair’s portfolio group

No portfolio group shall have less than four charity trustees on it.

5.  Eligibility for a President Elect

  • The clause 2. (c) of the constitution specifies that the candidate for President Elect must
    • have served as a charity trustee or a Former PME International Committee member [as specified in the Bye Laws] previously; and
    • not currently be, or have been, the President; this includes also past Presidents of the Former PME [as specified in the Bye Laws];
  • The past Members of the International Committee and Presidents for the Former PME who have retired 2019 or earlier are listed on the Prior Presidents & Board Members page (About → Board of Trustees).

6.  Limits of Powers

  • The charity trustees have the authority to act on behalf of the PME in the purchasing of goods, paying for services, taking a lease, or remunerating an employee as per Clause 4 of the
  • The charity trustees have the authority as outlined in Bye Law 4(a) to a maximum limit of 5000 EUR.
  • Initiatives requiring expenditures of greater than 5000 EUR must be agreed upon by the members of PME as per Clause 10 of the Constitution.

7. Changes to the Bye Laws

(a) Changes to the bye laws must be agreed upon by the members of PME as per Clause 10 of the Constitution.