Editorial.

Marshall, Linda ; Swan, Paul

This is the final issue of APMC (as it is affectionately known) that we will edit, so hopefully you won't mind if we offer a few thoughts on the journal and mathematics education in general, as well as thank some of the key people that contribute to the production of APMC. Firstly we would like to thank Toby Spencer, Thiago Matos and Phil Gibson who typeset the journal in such a professional manner. The layout makes the articles easy to follow and ideal for professional reading. Teachers certainly enjoy seeing examples of children's work and photographs from the classroom. It adds an authenticity to the articles. We would like to thank our review panel who read and comment on every article that is submitted. We must thank all the teachers and academics for submitting articles and sharing insights from their classrooms. We must thank AAMT who publish the journal for the benefit of teachers in Australia and beyond. We have received emails from around the world asking about articles and expressing appreciation for the quality of the journal.

We would like to finish our term as editors by raising one concern. Over the last two and a half years we have seen the journal go from strength to strength with plenty of articles being submitted--so much so that the journal is now eight pages longer. This is wonderful. However, some have complained that the journal is losing its roots. We must admit that we were surprised by this criticism as most issues, including this one, have excerpts from the classroom. However, some teachers feel that the articles are too long, not practical enough, or too difficult. The journal applies a double blind peer review process, which means that the names of the authors are removed and two separate reviewers, some of whom are academics and some who are teachers, comment on the articles. Authors are then given the opportunity to alter their articles in the light of the reviewers' comments. We appreciate that this process can appear quite daunting and some teachers baulk at subjecting their work to peer review. We believe this is an issue that AAMT and the new editor Dr Catherine Attard will need to take on board. One possibility is to split the journal into two sections: peer-reviewed and non-reviewed. I am sure the new editor would love to hear your thoughts. Our best wishes go to Dr Attard from the University of Western Sydney for taking on the role of Editor.