In this edited transcript of the second round-table discussion convened by "FORUM", four participants explore the nature of 'progressive education' as term, idea and tradition. Robin Alexander, Paula Ayliffe, Madeleine Holt and John Yandell consider whether, in the shadow of currently resurgent traditionalist approaches to pedagogy,…

John Dewey's vision of education and of the school as a model for society was grounded in a commitment to collaboration. This view continues to inform the basic assumptions of progressive educators, especially in the USA. Collaboration in classrooms is offered as the basis and matrix for collaboration beyond them, in the civic realm. But the civic…

"The Oxford Dictionary of English" defines authoritarianism as the enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom, as well as a lack of concern for the wishes or opinions of others. In this paper I argue that there are growing signs of a move towards more authoritarian practices and structures…

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the limitations imposed by the restrictive payment-by-results curriculum were gradually relaxed, and many members of Her Majesty's Inspectorate were able to welcome the opportunity to focus their efforts upon supporting schools, teachers, and even individual pupils. This article looks at the work of…

This review of Caroline Pratt's life and work in early years education includes an account of how a six-year-old boy taught a woman in her thirties what she needed to know in order to open a school--in 1914--that continues to this day, a school that was, in the founder's own words, fitted to the child and not the other way around. It finds a clear…

Whereas the previous government, regarding education primarily as a means to an end, showed little interest in questions of curriculum content, Gove's counter-revolution involves the enforcement of a deeply authoritarian politics of knowledge. An adequate response to such cultural and curricular conservatism needs to expose the falsity of Gove's…

This article addresses the programmatic and strategic choices facing the progressive and left movement in education after the May general election. It draws a critical balance sheet of the education policies in Labour's election manifesto and of the strategy of attempting to influence them in a more progressive direction. An analysis of the…

"Forest schools" are an increasingly well-known feature of the educational landscape, having been adopted by many local authorities across the United Kingdom in an effort to build children's confidence and self-esteem through learning outdoors in a woodland setting. Their origins are usually described as deriving from a Scandinavian…