Edutopias
New Utopian Thinking in Education

Michael A. Peters
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

and

John Freeman-Moir
University of Canterbury, New Zealand


Education has always been part of the search for the ideal society and, therefore, an important part of the utopian tradition in Western culture, politics and literature. Education has often served to define the ideal society or to provide the principal means of creating it. This unique collection of essays by well known scholars from around the world examines the role of edutopias in the utopian tradition, examining...

World wide the production of teachers has become a sharp political issue during the early years of the twenty first century. Current systems for ensuring a supply of capable and knowledgeable teachers have come sustained under attack from politicians, economists, parents organisations and social critics alike. There is less agreement now about teacher education than in any time over the pass fifty years.

Much of the debate in the public and political arenas has been driven by narrow and expedient consideration and too much of it demonstrates a poor grasp of the deep and complex issues which...