First Published in 1996. This first of its kind Encyclopaedia charts the influence of philosophic ideas that have had the greatest influence on education from Ancient Greece to the present. It covers classical thinkers as Plato, Augustine, Hypatia, Locke and Rousseau, as well as recent figures such as Montessori, Heldegger, Du Bois and Dewey. It illuminates time-hounded ideas and concepts such as idealism, practical wisdom, scholasticism, tragedy and truth, as well as modern constructs as critical theory, existentialism, phenomenology, Marxism and post-Colonialism. The coverage consists of 228 articles by 184 contributors who survey the full spectrum of the philosophy of education.

This book outlines the lives of six female members of the Irish Ascendancy, and describes their involvement with educational provision for poor children in Ireland at the end of the long eighteenth century. It argues that these women were moved by empathy and by a sense of duty, and that they were motivated by political considerations, pragmatism and, especially, religious belief. The book highlights the women’s agency and locates their contribution in international and literary contexts; and by exploring sources and evidence not previously considered, it generates an enhanced understanding of Ascendancy women’s involvement with the provision of elementary education for poor Irish children. This book will appeal to scholars and researchers in the fields of Education and History of Education. It will also have broad appeal for those interested in Gender and Women’s Studies, in Georgian Ireland and in the history of Ascendancy families and estates.