First published in 1989, Towards a Theory of Schooling explores and debates the relationship between school and society. It examines the form and function of one of humankind’s most important social institutions, following the cutting edge of pedagogic innovation from mainland Europe through the British Isles to the USA. In the process, the book throws important light upon the origins and evolution of the school based notions of class, curriculum, classroom, recitation and class teaching.

This book analyses the development of Catholic schooling in Scotland over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Scholarship of this period tends to be dominated by discussions of the 1872 and 1918 Education (Scotland) Acts: while these crucial acts are certainly not neglected in this volume, the editors and contributors also examine the key figures and events that shaped Catholic education and Catholic schools in Scotland. Focusing on such diverse themes as lay female teachers and non-formal learning, this volume illuminates many under-researched and neglected aspects of Catholic schooling in Scotland. This wide-ranging edited collection will illuminate fresh historical insights that do not focus exclusively on Catholic schooling, but are also relevant to the wider Scottish educational community. It will appeal to students and scholars of Catholic schooling, schooling in Scotland, as well as Christian schooling more generally.

This book explores examples of this process of invention and addresses the complex interaction of past and present in a fascinating study of ritual and symbolism.

From the arrival of the Celtic monks until well into the 19th century, all formal education in Britain was religious education. Until the middle of the 17th century, formal education was under the sole auspices of the Church of England. But whether strictly under the control of the Church of England or not, the prevailing belief was that, without religion at its heart, education could not take place at all.