Elective Home Education is a legal, minority approach to the compulsory education of children. I review the potential contribution of the historical analysis of "domestic pedagogies", presented in this Special Issue, for home education practice in the UK. By drawing on narratives of a period at the cusp of the perceived normalcy of…

The article aims to provide a justification for the claim that optimal development and becoming an optimiser are educational ideals that parents should pursue in raising their children. Optimal development is conceptualised as enabling children to grow into flourishing persons, that is persons who have developed (and are still developing) their…

In this article, it is argued that Kurt Hahn felt that it was important for children to experience 'failure' at times and to learn how to cope with it. If this is no longer desirable in the classroom, it ought to be possible to encourage children to be adventurous and "take risks" in a wide range of Outward Bound activities.

This paper presents an overview of the philosophy, psychology of learning, teaching methods, and curriculum of the Waldorf Schools. Most Waldorf teachers are influenced by the esoteric form of critical idealism propounded by Rudolf Steiner. The child is considered by Steiner to be a spiritual being who has reincarnated on to earth in a physical…

Communication is urged between theorists of human development and practitioners in early childhood education. Major psychological theories on maturation, child development, child behavior, personality formation, and affective and intellectual development are summarized and their effects on nursery school practices from the 1920's to the present…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's educational and political thought is compared to that of John Locke. Rousseau's theories, as expressed in "Emile," are placed in the context of some of that author's other works to show how his educational theories can seem practical in terms of his views on social and political inequality. (PP)

Comparison of the fields of gifted education and middle school education indicates some major differences in such areas as organizing for instruction, how students learn, mainstreaming, delivery of instruction, affective needs, and the concept of giftedness. (Author/DB)