Teaching the competency of solving mathematical problems: what is at stake?

The idea of competency introduced in Quebec's educational programs has, among other things, aimed to meet the requirements of a lifelong-learning culture. Since this idea is included in Quebec's education programs, we wanted to explore the requirements of teaching practices that could be used to help develop the mathematical problem-solving competency in students. Three second-cycle elementary teachers and four first-cycle secondary teachers volunteered to participate in this study. By positioning this teaching in an organization, through a systemic vision we were able to interpret our data to identify contradictions linked to success and learning, modes of collaboration, and decision-making mechanisms inclined to support this kind of teaching.