This paper presents an analysis of the explicit teaching model as described in Quebec scientific writings associated with research on effective teaching practices. First, the author presents a theoretical perspective derived from the theory of didactic situations and Cornelius Castoriadis’s theory of autonomy. This theoretical articulation leads to posit the creative activity of students and their participation in the community of mathematical knowledge as constitutive of the learning process in the classroom. Secondly, this theoretical perspective serves as a basis for the analysis of interpretations of learning offered by certain Quebec scientific writings associated with effectiveness in education. The article shows that these writings, as a device promoting certain forms of learning, participate in a process in which subjects who contribute to educational institutions cannot recognize the mathematical knowledge developed as the product of their own work.