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.
Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part 1: Theory and Practice. 1. Theory and Practice in Education. 2. Philosophy of Education 1952-1982. 3. The Idea of a Unified Science of Education. 4. Education and Politics. Part 2: Aspects of the Curriculum. 5. Balance and Coherence: Some Curricular Principles in Recent Reports. 6. What is general about general education? 7. Controversial issues and the Curriculum. Part 3: Autonomy and Learning. 8. Education and the Ethics of Belief. 9. Autonomy and Intellectual Education. 10. The Assessment of Learning. 11. Behaviour modification: Towards An Ethical Appraisal. Part 4: Primary Education – Plowden and After. 12. Reflections on Plowden. 13. The Primary Survey: An Assessment. Index.
Biography
R F Dearden
