The New Education movement was a remarkable coalition of national reform movements that emerged at the turn of the twentieth century. As a heterogeneous movement that was united only in its opposition to the schooling system at the time, its structure and boundaries in the UK have remained a matter of academic debate. This article implements the…

The purpose of this Action Research study was to explore best practices in progressive school design and understand how a documentary and community panel event on the creation of such schools can create grassroots change. Cycle 1 data collection included interviews with eight individuals who were teachers, administrators, and caregivers to…

The needs of society have changed significantly over the years, and so we must ensure that how we educate evolves to meet those needs.

Student voice has held a prominent place in the tradition of progressive and democratic schools and classrooms around the world. Once engaged it offers a chance to develop and use crucial skills for democratic living and to shape meaningful contexts for learning as students bring their own personal questions, cultural experiences, resources, and…

This volume collects Christine Sleeter's core work focusing on "critical" multicultural education, situating culture and identity within an analysis of power and racism. Multicultural education arose in the context of the Civil Rights Movement and, in its inception, shared with that movement a focus on eradicating both interpersonal and…

The article by Collins, Hess, and Lowery (2019) explores struggles teachers faced in order to pursue Deweyan educational practices. This response proposes that even more is needed for a critical educational practice, called "strong democracy." Such an approach requires addressing and countering the White supremacist legacy of U.S.…

This historical study explores John Dewey's ideas regarding music and music education through primary sources (his published writings, correspondence, and transcriptions of class lectures) and secondary sources (biographies and related scholarly literature). Dewey's belief that he was unmusical is presented, including via a consideration of his…

Given that exclusive boarding schools in Germany are repeatedly referred to in public and academic discourses as places of elite education, the question arises as to the consequences of boarding school socialisation and how these schools affect the post-school biographies of their alumni. This qualitative study examines the autobiographies of…

Caroline Pratt, the founder of the City and Country School, is one of the few educators who tried to work out a program that would engage and develop students' imaginations. Along with other progressive educators, however, she has been criticized for her child-centeredness, that is, valuing children's spontaneity at the expense of planning and…

In my paper, I attempt to accomplish a twofold task: first, to argue that in order to understand important features of Deweyan work, a thorough analysis of the roles that uncertainty, courage and imagination play in Deweyan thought is required. Second, based on such an analysis, I try to show that such features are essential for education to…

Many of the first public school music teachers in the United States came from the singing school tradition and taught from the same tune books that had been used in singing schools. After the war, renewed interest in education and the establishment of graded schools soon led to the introduction of music series that were designed to serve the…

This article traces the development of the wartime Japanese curriculum, which was deliberately designed to implement 'Japanese' approaches to science, and its relation to the previously dominant educational approach, learning by doing. It examines the work of Shiono Naomichi (1898-1969), who served as the curriculum and textbook revision director…

Purpose: This paper explores the context within which experimental, pedagogically progressive schools were established in Australia during the first decades of the 20th century. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents a case study of the establishment of Rosbercon Girls' Grammar School. It draws on educator accounts, archival documents and…

This paper explores the British art patronage scheme "Pictures for Schools," which sold affordable works of art to educational buyers at annual exhibitions between 1947 and 1969, focusing on the work of "Pictures for Schools" founder and organiser Nan Youngman (1906-1995) as an artist, educationalist and activist. It shows…

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted and transformed public education and revealed deeply embedded inequities within educational systems. The unpredictable shift to virtual learning exposed these disparities, illuminating the need for innovative, student-centered educational approaches. This dissertation examines how Black educators who…