The papers in this volume provide a coherent philosophical study of a group of important and pressing educational issues such as the selection of objectives for less able children, the fundamental characteristics of teaching and the integration of the curriculum. A thesis on the necessary differentiation of knowledge into logically distinct forms is outlined, and is defended against recent philosophical criticisms. Its implications for curriculum planning are examined, with particular reference to the urgent problems of adeqately characterizing liberal education and those forms of moral and religious education that are appropriate in maintained schools.

This volume provides an introduction to the philosophy of education, which will enable students meeting the subject for the first time to find their way among the many specialized volumes. It deals in a non-technical way with the more important issues raised in a philosophical approach to education, and gives a clear idea of the scope of the subject. After discussing different theories of the aims of education, whether mechanistic or organic, the author addresses practical issues - for example, about the curriculum, the distinction between education and indoctrination, the role of authority and discipline, and the place of religious and moral teaching. Finally he deals with some important aspects of education and the influence of different political structures on the philosophy of education.

The ‘knowledge turn’ in curriculum studies has drawn attention to the central role that knowledge of the disciplines plays in education, and to the need for new thinking about how we understand knowledge and knowledge-building. Knowing History in Schools explores these issues in the context of teaching and learning history through a dialogue between the eminent sociologist of curriculum Michael Young, and leading figures in history education research and practice from a range of traditions and contexts. With a focus on Young’s ‘powerful knowledge’ theorisation of the curriculum, and on his more recent articulations of the ‘powers’ of knowledge, this dialogue explores the many complexities posed for history education by the challenge of building children’s historical knowledge and understanding. The book builds towards a clarification of how we can best conceptualise knowledge-building in history education. Crucially, it aims to help history education students, history teachers, teacher educators and history curriculum designers navigate the challenges that knowledge-building processes pose for learning history in schools.

The International Science and Evidence Based Education (ISEE) Assessment is an initiative of the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), and is its contribution to the Futures of Education process launched by UNESCO Paris in September 2019. In order to contribute to re-envisioning the future of education with a science and evidence based report, UNESCO MGIEP embarked on the first-ever large-scale assessment of knowledge of education.

Educational policy and discussion, in Britain and the USA, are increasingly dominated by the confused ideology of egalitarianism. David E. Cooper begins by identifying the principles hidden among the confusions, and argues that these necessarily conflict with the ideal of educational excellence - in which conflict it is this ideal that must be preserved. He goes on to criticize the use of education as a tool for promoting wider social equality, focussing especially on the muddles surrounding 'equal opportunities', 'social mix' and 'reverse discrimination'. Further chapters criticize the 'new egalitarianism' favoured, on epistemological grounds, by various sociologists of knowledge in recent years and 'cultural egalitarianism' according to which standard criteria of educational value merely reflect parochial and economic interests.

This is a philosophical treatment of the conceptual and normative aspects of topics which are currently a matter of policy debate in education. The authors have focussed on such concepts as liberty, autonomy, equality and pluralism, and have provided a philosophical commentary which relates these concepts both to a background of philosophical literature, and to the institutional contexts and policy debates in which they function. The book will be of significance to all policy makers who need to gain an understanding of the values and concepts involved in major policy problems.

'Open', 'informal', and 'humanistic' are words used to describe new styles of education which depart from ordinary or traditional education. Too often, however, these adjectives are used in a strongly polemical or self-justifying rather than analytical way. Often too, the grounds for accepting or rejecting open education are political or moral, instead of being based on a consideration of the nature of open education and its strength and weaknesses. This collection of essays is central to the debate on open education, analyzing the important concepts in the field. The contributions, all written by authorities on the philosophy of education, deal with problems of definition, knowledge, socialization, freedom, cultural perspective, and unique meanings and metaphors.