Sharpes' approach synthesizes historical, philosophical, and cultural standpoints. The text contains practical teaching applications alongside theory and an integrated emphasis of diversity and other multicultural themes. It also covers the history of schooling from ancient times to the present, including biographies of major non-Western figures as well as the canon of educational innovators.

In this fine introduction to Waldorf education, written out of a series of lectures given in 1924, Steiner provides one of the most comprehensive introductions to his pedagogical philosophy, psychology, and practice. Steiner begins by describing the union of science, art, religion and morality, which was the aim of all his work and underlies his concept of education. Against this background, many of the lectures describe a new developmental psychology. On this basis, having established how children's consciousness develops, Steiner discusses how different subjects should be presented so that individuals can grow and flourish inwardly. Only if the child absorbs the right subject in the right way at the right time can the inner freedom so necessary for life in the modern world become second nature.

Foundations of Education: Essential Texts and New Directions helps aspiring teachers interpret the craft of teaching within the historical, philosophical, cultural, and social contexts of education, inside and outside of schools. As a traditional social foundations reader, it focuses on the origins of the social foundations’ disciplines, but it also includes contemporary pieces that directly impact students' lives today. Through these carefully curated readings, students will grasp the complexity and connection between contemporary issues in education. Part I contains "essential texts," selections from works widely regarded as central to the development of the field, which lay the basis of further study for any serious student of education. Part II looks at multidisciplinary directions of current foundations of education scholarship. An introductory essay by the editors and discussion questions at the conclusion of the text further highlight the selections’ continued importance and application to today’s most pressing educational issues. By addressing the past, present, and future of social foundations, this volume contends skillfully with ever-shifting education policies and school demographics.