This article attempts to rethink agency for childhood studies, drawing on Foucault's theorisations of power, Deleuze and Guattari's concept of assemblage, Bennett's vital materialism and Grosz's account of Bergson's conception of freedom. I argue that (1) agency is ambivalent, that is, it has no intrinsic ethical value; (2) agency is not a…

Iqbal views the schooling as well as the Madrassah systems devoid of developing a dynamic Muslim required for the renaissance of Ummah. With this realization, many Islamic educationists in Pakistan have established. Islamic schools in Pakistan. The question is whether their models are dynamic enough to create such Muslims? This research probes…

Action research can be understood as a complex interplay between local circumstances and local research traditions, embedded in their turn in local intellectual-philosophical traditions, national as well as international. Because of this interplay it is questionable whether it would be particularly fruitful to look for 'typical local forms of…

Scholars from multiple disciplines have commented on the divided nature of childhood as a historical construction: a period of life to be valued in itself as well as a means to adulthood. In this essay, James Stillwaggon considers George Orwell's "Such, Such Were the Joys," an autobiographical account of his childhood education, as a site of…

This book describes the needs and potentials of children and youth from birth to age 21, based on a holistic understanding of what human beings are and can become. The description is based on the insights of three early twentieth-century spiritual teachers--Rudolf Steiner, Aurobindo Ghose, and Inayat Khan--whose works, the book claims, articulate…

Discusses developmental philosophy and psychology as they relate to the education of children, to teacher development, and to the training of counselors. The article emphasizes John Dewey's developmental perspective, his idea of human development as the aim of education, his expanded view of the scientific method, and his belief that direct…

In this article, the author discusses her views on philosophies and theories by Lev Semenovich Vygotsky and Howard Gardner. Here, she argues that Vygotsky's ideas should be viewed through the prism of Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences, and that the combination of these concepts can shed new light on education--on teaching and learning.…

The author summarizes some of Piaget's beliefs, and states that the curriculum in today's schools must be changed in order to put into practice some of these beliefs, and to prepare students to reason together and work cooperatively to solve common world problems. (KC)

Synthesizes the Montessori stages of life from birth to adulthood and provides an integrated description of Montessori educational principles. Examines the role of the teacher as learner, revolutionary, and scientist following the child through life. Identifies education as ongoing research on the laws of human development. (KB)

South American educator and author Freire discusses qualities important for the teacher, his vision of education and the growth of young children, and the role of language and reading in that vision. (HTH)

This response to an article regarding the tension between talent development and personal growth in gifted education argues that dissociation of these two aspects is conditional, not a constant state of affairs. Contingencies and processes responsible for the dissociation are identified and ways to integrated these two perspectives are discussed.…

The three lectures reprinted here, given in 1957 London Elementary course, integrate the Montessori perspective on the Elementary child and Cosmic Education: (1) differences between children before and after 7 years of age; (2) characteristics of children 7 years and older; and (3) the adult role in responding to children in the second stage of…

This paper examines the educational philosophy underlying Waldorf Education, focusing on Rudolf Steiner's concept of "vital" or etheric energy and comparing Piaget's and Steiner's stages of cognition. The paper begins with a discussion of school readiness and the trend toward lowering the school entry age, and maintains that this trend…

The paper presents key features of Jean Piaget's theory of moral development, compares Piaget's theory with Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development and Sidney Simon's theory of values clarification, and evaluates the values clarification movement in light of Piaget's theoretical and practical conclusions. The focus is twofold: first, on…

Problems of providing effective training for moral development are discussed. Intended for teachers, parents, and education students, the book lends itself easily to application in the classroom. The book is presented in three sections. Section I provides a historical and philosophical perspective on the need for moral education and on basic…