Mathematics and all that: who teaches the number stuff?

Much currently is made of mathematics being a generic skill in Higher Education. What has not been established systematically is what this means in terms of who teaches it. This opinion article draws on an attempt to find out who is teaching mathematics in one university. As suspected, individuals who would not describe themselves as mathematics specialists undertake much of the mathematics teaching. Indeed, many teachers learned their mathematics independently in order to address specific problems, e.g. related to research, and others learned and continue to learn from their teaching. For most people mathematics learning is situated in the contexts in which it is applied, and teaching is one such context. Exploring the experience of learning mathematics in order to teach can provide specific insight into the successful learning of mathematics per se