The aim of the article is to deepen the knowledge of progressivism and how it was manifested in practice in Swedish secondary schools from a teacher perspective before it was prescribed in policy during the reforms of the 1950s. In the current educational debate, progressivism is blamed by some for being the root of a permissive style of education…

This paper uses critical discourse analysis to examine the alignment between the stated goals and the discursive implications in a scripted curriculum published by Teaching Tolerance, a progressive education organization in the US. Social justice education and critical race theories ground the analysis of "Teaching 'The New Jim Crow': A…

The centennial of "Democracy and Education" invites those who study education and curriculum to reconsider this major work and its place in today's world. One of the most cited works in educational scholarship (and the most cited of Dewey's many works), the perspective it provides is not evident in US policy-making or in school practice.…

The Laboratory School of the University of Chicago founded by John Dewey in 1896 is considered as one of the most innovative schools of progressive education. Its history, and specifically its sudden end, is still of general interest. In sympathy with Dewey, most historians tend to put the main blame for the tragedy on University President William…

This narrative inquiry exploring contemporary Chinese schooling involved three researchers who worked collaboratively as a team. Each researcher resonated with a different image of the principalship embedded in the storied account proffered by Xu Xiaozhang ??, leader of Hexie Elementary School in Tianjin, China. (1) Principal as the lead teacher;…

This is the last of four essays discussing John Dewey's essay, "Education as engineering". It assumes that educational engineers have failed to achieve the progressive success of bridge builders, and sketches five plausible explanations for this failure. At the end, it is suggested that the assumption is itself questionable. (Contains 1 note.)

This paper explores the concept of needs as a basis for curriculum development through the deliberations of the US educators associated with the Progressive Education Association's Commission on the Secondary School Curriculum of the Eight-Year Study (1933-1941). Noting how divergent views of "needs" influenced American educational…

During the past few years a significant and influential literature has emerged that has had as its focus the theme of the school as a transmitter of the ideology of capitalist society. It is argued here that schools not only transmit ideology but generate and transform it as well. (RM)

This paper seeks to make use of later works of Habermas in the field of education. The theme, developed out of the pragmatic tradition, is that of deliberative communication as a central form of activity in schools. This implies a displacement of traditional teaching and learning as the central form of activity to the creation of meaning through…

Examines the attitudes toward schooling of middle-class, college-educated mothers in order to discern their curricular and pedagogical preferences, particularly as related to progressive education. Indicates a lack of support for progressive forms of schooling among its supposed proponents; middle-class, college-educated parents espouse typically…

Argues for the idea of deliberative democracy as an educational process where individuals bring different perspectives to on-going communication. Shows the limits of progressivism and reconstructionism and the possibilities and importance of the neo-pragmatic perspective. States that the idea of deliberative democracy is presented as a way to…

Examines the historical development of the term "child centered" in the discourse of early schooling in the United States. Beginning with Friedrich Froebel, who was the founder of the kindergarten and focuses on the development of the kindergarten until the 1930s. Explores how the underlying meanings of child-centerdness changed. (CMK)

Explains the idea and practice of general education as a manifestation of the U.S. common school ideal. Examines representative proposals for general education in order to identify the progressive conception of general education. Considers the efficacy of general education as a curriculum practice. Suggests implications for contemporary…

The concept of "modern education" is directly connected with Rousseau's theory of education. It is often said that Rousseau "founded" modern education, or at least was its most influential predecessor. The paper argues that "modern learning" or "experimental education" was discussed within the late-17th century "quarrel of the ancients and…

Reports that Ellsworth Collings faked data and misrepresented his research in a 1923 study that became a hallmark of progressive education. "An Experiment with a Project Curriculum," supposedly documented a group of high school students' independent efforts at studying an outbreak of typhoid. Collings seriously misrepresented his input.…