The first part of the book discusses aims, who should determine them and how they might be determined. The second part discusses some more specific topics of learning and teaching, such as learning how to learn, the integrated day and the use of competition. The author distinguishes three broad levels of thought in looking at schools: the details of choice and decision; the general principles which are, or ought to be, guiding that detailed practice; and the theoretical commentaries on the guiding principles available from the various disciplines which constitute the study of education.

This book discusses the very nature and purpose of education and provides a foundation upon which more specialized studies in the psychology, history and sociology of education can be based. The book therefore surveys the main problems of human life - the relation of the individual and society, freedom and authority, continuity and change (i.e.growth), and underlying them all, the paradox that aspiration and frustration are continually linked in human experience. The educational implications of these various problems are considered in such a way that the methods as well as the aims of...

This volume was the Swarthmore Lecture for 1932, one of an annual series of lectures delivered by and for members of the Society of Friends (Quakers). The lecture discusses the place of education and moral philosophy in the world of the early twentieth century, as well as the place of religious discipline in education.

The Question of what 'aesthetic education' is, or might be, is often a source of incomprehension. This book opens up discussion of a complex, difficult, but highly important topic, and offers an introductory survey of the whole area. In examining the relationship of the concept of the aesthetic to that of art, it challenges the persistent linking by many educationists of 'aesthetic' with 'creative' and the consequent neglect of critical reflection and appreciation.

The book is divided into two parts. The first forms a survey of the inadequacies of the Swiss school system in the early twentieth century (but the issues it discusses were universal ones which were just as prevalent in the English school system of that time). The second part of the book is a collection of testimonies from former pupils on the worst aspects of their schooling. With reference to the ideals of Pestalozzi the author proposes ways in which to find constructive solutions to the problems of harsh teachers, schools and de-motivated pupils.

Many people have come to feel that the controversy on education in Britain has got bogged down in political polemics, and that common polarisations between 'conventional' and 'progressive', 'selective' and 'comprehensive', 'elite' and 'democratic' are both unrealistic and damaging. The author believes that a new educational ethic is needed now that former religious sanctions are no longer generally operative. He believes that it is possible to regard the concept of a Rational Good as a basis for educational theory and practice. The book discusses important practical issues in education:...

'Philosophy' in the context of this book means that the author is looking at education as a whole, without restrictions or simplifications; looking at ends and purposes, not merely at methods and means. He discusses early years education, the sociology and psychology of education as well as education in adolescence and adult education. Well-known as a critical pioneer of intelligence research the author discusses educational psychology as much as philosophy in this book.

The Plowden Report, Children and their Primary Schools (1967), had a huge impact on education in the latter 20th century, but at the time was labelled as left-wing, and of no practical use to the problems of education in the 1960s. The contributors to this volume were all concerned with the educational thinking of the Plowden Report, and its appropriateness or otherwise to the educational needs of the day. In quarters where the Plowden Report was treated as an authoritative textbook, the views in this volume provide a valuable critique.

The relationship between educational practice and the social principles of democracy forms an important strand in the history of educational thought, and is central to the debate on many contemporary issues in the educational field. In this concise, introductory book, Colin Wringe examines the nature of this relationship, taking account of developments in the theory of democracy and educational controversy. In particular he considers the relevance of differing interpretations of democracy to the following questions: the defence of selection, the extension of private education, the function of...

This book comes strongly to the defence of educational theory and shows that it has a structure and integrity of its own. The author argues that the validity of educational theory may best be judged in terms of the various assumptions made in it. His argument is illustrated by a review and critique of some particularly influential theories of education: those of Plato, Rousseau, James Mill and John Dewey. He stresses the need for an on-going, contemporary, general theory of education and examines the ways in which the disciplines of psychology, sociology and philosophy can contribute to a...