The target of the present study is to illustrate the importance of the communities of practice for teaching and learning mathematics. This is a composite subject that requires the discussion and analysis of several factors including a general introduction to the communities of practice, the status of mathematics education in the modern society, the desired learning skills of the 21^st century, the profile of the competent teacher of mathematics, the socio-cultural views for the teaching and learning of mathematics, etc. All the above factors are combined here to present ideas and conclusions about the form, the role, and the usefulness of the communities of practice for teaching and learning mathematics, especially for the developing countries. Although this is not a new idea, it is believed that the analysis of the subject provided here is interesting and useful for the reader.

Communities of Practice (CoP’s), virtual CoP’s, learning skills, competent teacher of mathematics, socio-cultural theories for the teaching and learning mathematics