Missionaries have been subject to academic and societal debate. Some scholars highlight their contribution to the spread of modernity and development among local societies, whereas others question their motives and emphasise their inseparable connection with colonialism. In this volume, fifteen authors – from both Europe and the Global South – address these often polemical positions by focusing on education, one of the most prominent fields in which missionaries have been active. They elaborate on Protestantism as well as Catholicism, work with cases from the 18th to the 21st century, and cover different colonial empires in Asia and Africa. The volume introduces new angles, such as gender, the agency of the local population, and the perspective of the child.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of families worldwide have been thrust into schooling remotely at home. Some parents look forward to sending their kids back to school, but others have found they prefer schooling at home. They've noticed things like, "My child has learned more at home with me in the last 2 months than in the past 2 years at school!" Or, "I kind of like spending so much time with my kids and learning alongside them." Many parents are considering continuing homeschooling beyond the pandemic, and this book is here to help them make an informed decision about their children's education.Homeschooling is not about trying to reproduce a school environment at home. It's not hours and hours sitting at a desk with a parent or in front of an online class. Homeschooling is about creating an environment outside of the school structure that fosters a love of learning, creativity, family closeness, and flexibility. There is no one size that fits all in homeschooling; every family is different, and approaches homeschooling and parenting in their own unique way. In this book, 24 seasoned homeschooling families share their experiences. The authors include both religious and secular homeschooling parents from all walks of life. They represent a variety of homeschooling styles (from self-directed learning/unschooling to more formal approaches), abilities and disabilities, marital statuses, educational achievements, job statuses, races, and socioeconomic levels. The authors have children of all ages, from babies, preschoolers, and kindergarteners, to students in elementary school, middle school, or high school. And some have children who are now adults. They discuss what they love about homeschooling and also the challenges they've overcome. We hope that this book will inspire and encourage those who are considering homeschooling, as well as those who are already on their homeschooling journey. And we hope it will expand your ideas about the concept of education, and what's possible for yourselves and your children.

Taking up a little-known story of education, schooling, and missionary endeavor, Helen May, Baljit Kaur, and Larry Prochner focus on the experiences of very young ’native’ children in three British colonies. In missionary settlements across the northern part of the North Island of New Zealand, Upper Canada, and British-controlled India, experimental British ventures for placing young children of the poor in infant schools were simultaneously transported to and adopted for all three colonies. From the 1820s to the 1850s, this transplantation of Britain’s infant schools to its distant colonies was deemed a radical and enlightened tool that was meant to hasten the conversion of 'heathen' peoples by missionaries to Christianity and to European modes of civilization. The intertwined legacies of European exploration, enlightenment ideals, education, and empire building, the authors argue, provided a springboard for British colonial and missionary activity across the globe during the nineteenth century. Informed by archival research and focused on the shared as well as unique aspects of the infant schools’ colonial experience, Empire, Education, and Indigenous Childhoods illuminates both the pervasiveness of missionary education and the diverse contexts in which its attendant ideals were applied.

The Mission Hill School, founded by MacArthur Award winner Deborah Meier and colleagues in 1997, is a small public school that has rethought almost everything about the process of teaching and learning. Beyond richly describing and evaluating this high-achieving school, the author argues that democratic education is increasingly difficult in this era of testing and standardization and that a school such as Mission Hill must be continually thoughtful, innovative, and courageous in counteracting systemic inequality. This in-depth examination is essential reading for anyone interested in how to better understand seemingly intractable problems related to urban public education in the United States. Book Features: An exemplary model of democratic education that shows the inner workings of a largely teacher-governed school.A rare example of an urban school implementing Dewey-influenced progressive pedagogy.In-depth descriptions of an anti-racist and culturally relevant pedagogy and curriculum.A close examination of successful practices, including shared decision making, intensive problem solving, and looking at student work. Matthew Knoester is a National Board Certified Teacher and former teacher at the Mission Hill School in Boston. He received his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is currently Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Evansville. “Matthew Knoester has done us an enormous favor by showing us, in detail, what could be—one example of how schools can be the building blocks for democracy, recreating community for all to taste, feel, hear, and see.” —From the Foreword by Deborah W. Meier “This is exactly the kind of book that is so necessary at this time. Schools can be respectful, responsive, and caring places. Matthew Knoester gives us a detailed picture of such a school. If more people would read books such as this, the national debate on education would be all the better for it.” —Michael W. Apple, John Bascom Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison “Knoester’s account of the Mission Hill School captures the ‘habits of mind’ needed if public schools are to be truly democratic in spirit and in practice, centered on the children, and, as Deborah Meier so powerfully advocates, protected from those policies and social forces that accept and perpetuate disengagement and inequality in our children's education.” —Linda McSpadden McNeil, Professor of Education, Rice University; author of Contradictions of School Reform “To those who have never seen the Mission Hill School in Boston, it may sound like a magical place. The good news is that it is real and Knoester shows us through his compelling narrative how and why they have been able to achieve so much. For educators, students, and parents this book will be a source of inspiration. At a time when our policymakers and many so-called reformers are actively undermining support for public education, this important book will serve as a reminder that we can do a much better job at educating all children.” —Pedro Noguera, Executive Director,Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, New York University

How do governments in Africa make decisions about language? What does language have to do with state-building, and what impact might it have on democracy? This manuscript provides a longue durée explanation for policies toward language in Africa, taking the reader through colonial, independence, and contemporary periods. It explains the growing trend toward the use of multiple languages in education as a result of new opportunities and incentives. The opportunities incorporate ideational relationships with former colonizers as well as the work of language NGOs on the ground. The incentives relate to the current requirements of democratic institutions, and the strategies leaders devise to win elections within these constraints. By contrasting the environment faced by African leaders with that faced by European state-builders, it explains the weakness of education and limited spread of standard languages on the continent. The work combines constructivist understanding about changing preferences with realist insights about the strategies leaders employ to maintain power.

In this ground-breaking book, Gerald Grace addresses the dilemmas facing Catholic education in an increasingly secular and consumer-driven culture. Theory and original research drawn from interviews with Catholic headts are combined.