Sarita Harish, Lecturer in Education attended MERGA 33 conference which was held at John Curtin College of the Arts in Fremantle, Western Australia from July 3rd to 7th 2010. The theme of the conference was “Shaping the Future of Mathematics Education”. The conference comprised of series of research papers, round table discussions, symposia and other presentations of research and mathematics education issues. The Keynote speakers presented papers relating to current concerns in mathematics education — Indigenous mathematics learning, effective teaching, and the integration of digital technologies. Mathematics educators from New Zealand, Wales, Canada, Singapore, Thailand, India, Holland, United States of America, Australia and Fiji were amongst participants. The conference was a great opportunity to develop new professional friendships. Sarita Harish, as part of a four member team, co-authored and presented a paper titled “Now I’m teaching the children: Changing from Assessment of Learning to Assessment for Learning in Fiji”. The paper reported the work done by the authors in 2009 under the Numeracy Strategy of the Ministry of Education. It was trialed in 30 at-risk schools in Fiji in 2009. A Training Needs Analysis and a review of the Fiji Islands Literacy and Numeracy Assessment helped decide on the focus of the trial. Teachers were introduced to classroom based assessment and child centred pedagogy which they used over a four week period. Students showed considerable improvement in their mathematics knowledge and attitude. Teachers’ knowledge and confidence in using classroom based assessment also improved. The conference highlighted many issues especially related to marginalized learners. Ms Robyn Jorgenson, the key note speaker from Australia, in her paper “Structured Failing: Reshaping a Future of Marginalized Learners” urged educators not look for solutions using a “mathematical lens”. She drew upon a particular case from her work with Aboriginal people which had many of the most extreme elements of educational disadvantages of poverty, remote location, English as foreign language etc to provide an alternative lens for understanding the complexity of learning mathematics in schools. This presentation urged educators to move to a more holistic model for conceptualizing research, practice and policy in mathematics education that may enable greater access to mathematics and schooling for disadvantaged students. This is indeed the way to move forward so that mathematics does not become the gatekeeper and marginalize, but makes a meaningful contribution in the growth of all learners.