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Introduction to the Special Issue: deepening engagement in mathematics in pre-university education

At a time when many countries wish to improve their capacity in terms of scientifically and technologically educated young people, mathematics has an increasingly important role to play in support of this agenda. International studies tend to lead to headlines about performance and achievement, but widening participation in mathematics requires more than this. Fundamentally, we need students to develop positive dispositions towards mathematics and continued study of the subject. The articles brought together in this special issue explore underlying issues reporting on the work of a research project that focused on two different programmes of mathematical study in the first year of post-compulsory study in England. The wide-ranging work that is reported provides timely insights, through both quantitative and qualitative lenses, as students in transition negotiate their identities as young people in general, and in relation to mathematics in particular.