Everyone at the Department for Mathematics Education at Loughborough University was very sad to learn that Barbara Jaworski, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics Education, died in December 2025 after a short illness.  

Barbara was well known throughout the international mathematics education community. As well as her many research contributions, she served as President of both the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education and the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Barbara was central to the development of mathematics education research at Loughborough. 

An event to celebrate Barbara’s life was held in March. Here we reproduce the remarks made at the event by Tony Croft, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics Education. 

Tony Croft’s memories of Barbara 

I first met Barbara around 2003/4 – I can’t remember and don’t have an exact record.  

The Mathematics Education Centre at Loughborough, as it was then, had been established a couple of years earlier in 2002.  One of its primary roles was to oversee the teaching of mathematics to the large number of engineering students at Loughborough.  A secondary role was to engage in scholarly activity and research into the teaching of mathematics at university level. Many of the staff in the Centre at the time had a lot of expertise and success in teaching engineers and acquiring grants for teaching and learning projects. But by and large these did not contribute significantly to the wider university research ambitions. We had a small group of committed staff but no professors.  

And so, it was necessary, and the University provided funding, to appoint a professor of mathematics education – someone with an excellent track record – who would lead the research ambitions of the new centre. An advertisement was placed and amongst those who applied was Barbara. At the time she was a professor at the University of Agder, Norway. 

Barbara duly gave a presentation to staff, was interviewed and I am delighted to say she was offered the post.   In my office following the interview, and after we had offered her the post, we discussed how soon she might start. 

She was keen to get going straightaway but in typical Barbara style she had many commitments in Norway that she wanted to honour. She asked that it might be acceptable for her to continue some of her existing work in parallel to her new commitments. I distinctly remember her saying to me: 

“I know that I will be able to do both of these things at the same time. I work very, very hard. I will show you that I can do both.”  

This reassurance was accepted and Barbara was appointed on this basis. 

She never ever let us down. She did work incredibly hard, and doubtless for many long hours over many years. Her commitment to Loughborough was unwavering. 

She wholeheartedly immersed herself in this new and, for her, very different environment. To the best of my knowledge Barbara had never taught engineering mathematics to engineering undergraduates before but despite this being quite different from anything she had experienced she rose to the challenge magnificently. Dealing with extremely inhomogeneous groups of undergraduates with very diverse levels of motivation and interest, and some with a great dislike of anything mathematical, was possibly quite new to her. 

But she dived into the teaching and importantly used the new environment to develop new research interests and projects. A key characteristic of Barbara’s was always a keenness to invite others to join her projects, not to exploit them in anyway, but to support and nurture their own interests and to further the collective good. 

She established and encouraged a series of seminars called How we Teach, where mathematics department academics were invited to share their own experiences with mathematics educators. She was very successful in drawing many mathematicians into this endeavour and helped bridge the gap between mathematicians and maths educators. 

But beyond her own work, she was always more than ready and very generous with her time, always available and willing to offer support and advice to other colleagues in projects of their own. From my personal experience her input to the PhD supervision work that I was doing was invaluable, and she always had time to help and especially when situations became very difficult. She was always willing to trouble-shoot. 

On a personal level, Barbara introduced me to the University of Agder and Norway more generally. I was able to spend time working there, and following Barbara’s advice, my wife Kate and I had a wonderful holiday in Norway, taking a coastal and fjord cruise on the Hurtigruten Ferries which she strongly recommended. For us that was a holiday of a lifetime and we’ll be forever thankful to Barbara for that recommendation and introduction. 

Kate and I enjoyed numerous, delicious dinners with Barbara, and as I’m sure we all know, she was an excellent chef and a wonderful host. At her house in Burton on the Wolds she had a piano which I don’t think she had played for many years, but she kept promising herself that this was a pastime she would revisit. Sadly, I’m not sure she did ever get around to that. 

During the pandemic we met regularly on-line for a coffee, a chat and a catch up, shared news on each other’s work projects. In those dark times, we cheered each other up and looked to the future. 

I can honestly say that Barbara’s influence and legacy, particularly at Loughborough, but no doubt far beyond, have been profound and will be felt for many years to come. 

She will very sadly missed by so many of us. 

Thank you 

Tony Croft