This was the last and most important and comprehensive work of Charlotte Mason, (founder of the Parents’ National Educational Union). For more than half a century the practical results of her original thought on education could be seen in all parts of the world in the Charlotte Mason Method and the Parents’ Union Schools.

Tracing the views on moral life of such past philosophers as Plato, Aristotle and Kant, as well as of such theorists as Durkheim, Freud, Piaget and Kohlberg, the author sets forth a full discussion of the nature and educational implications of the idea of moral virtue.

There are many students who find philosophy of education difficult, because they have never received teaching in the basic essentials of general philosophy. This book begins by asking the basic question ‘what is philosophy?’ and examines a number of possible answers. Step by step the reader is introduced to the modern techniques of linguistic and concept analysis. Whenever a technical term is used it is explained and illustrated by reference to familiar situations in everyday life.

This volume provides a rigorous examination of theoretical concepts such as need, interest, growth, play, experience, activity and self-expression. It also makes an important contribution towards getting a closely argued educational theory. In the first part of the book the author establishes general aims and ends with suggestions as to what the curriculum ought to be. The second part is concerned with the procedures of learning and teaching appropriate to such a curriculum.

The Question of what ‘aesthetic education’ is, or might be, is often a source of incomprehension. This book opens up discussion of a complex, difficult, but highly important topic, and offers an introductory survey of the whole area. In examining the relationship of the concept of the aesthetic to that of art, it challenges the persistent linking by many educationists of ‘aesthetic’ with ‘creative’ and the consequent neglect of critical reflection and appreciation.

This book comes strongly to the defence of educational theory and shows that it has a structure and integrity of its own. The author argues that the validity of educational theory may best be judged in terms of the various assumptions made in it. His argument is illustrated by a review and critique of some particularly influential theories of education: those of Plato, Rousseau, James Mill and John Dewey. He stresses the need for an on-going, contemporary, general theory of education and examines the ways in which the disciplines of psychology, sociology and philosophy can contribute to a general theory of this kind.

The main concern of the volume is the relation of theory to practice in education but the book also reviews the state of educational theory, and its relation to politics. Beginning with a group of papers on specific areas of the relation between theory and practice, the book goes on to discuss aspects of the curriculum, such as curricular principles in recent official reports, the newly emerging theme of general abilities, and controversial material in the curriculum. The theme of the third group of articles is personal autonomy, one of the very few generally supported educational aims of recent years, and a final group presents a retrospective view of the Plowden Report.

When originally published this was the first book to offer a collective history of all the arts – Art, Drama, Dance, Music, Literature and Film – in the curriculum. It also offers a coherent framework for the teaching of arts which is in line with the best current trends since the Gulbenkian Report of 1982. It insists that the arts, seen together should be an essential part of the national curriculum.

By highlighting the use of emerging technologies in pedagogy and drawing on real-life case studies, the authors in this volume address the ongoing debate that technology brings a positive effect on education and beyond. They demonstrate how technology continues to fulfil the challenges of creating a more democratic educational environment.

Ethics and the Good Teacher brings together reviews of existing literature and analysis of empirical data from three research projects conducted by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues – The Good Teacher, Schools of Virtue and Teacher Education – to explore the ethical dimensions of the teaching profession. The book is premised on the idea that what constitutes a "good" teacher involves more than technical skills and subject knowledge. Understood as a professional activity, teaching involves an important ethical dimension, a fact that has come under increased scrutiny – and some would argue increased threat – over recent years as education and schooling have become shaped by market logic and accountability. Addressing the influence of personal and professional character on teachers and teaching, and containing clear implications for policy, practice and research, this book will be of great interest to teachers and other professionals working in education settings, as well as those working in educational policy. It will also appeal to academics, undergraduate students and postgraduate students researching the teaching profession and ethics/morality in education more generally.