This paper focuses on university mathematics teaching where the topic is linear
algebra. The research team includes two mathematics educators and a
mathematician who collaborate to study the teaching approach and the issues it
raises for teaching-learning at university level. We see university mathematics to
constitute a community of practice in which the practitioners are those who do
mathematics. Such a perspective draws sociohistorically on established practices in
doing, learning and teaching mathematics within a university. The paper offers an
interpretation of these theoretical perspectives in relation to a first year course on
Linear Algebra. We look at how teaching is constructed within the particular setting,
with a critical eye on the learners, on learning outcomes and on the tensions
experienced by the lecturer in satisfying student needs and mathematical values