Making Sense of Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy and Theory of Education and Teaching

Making Sense of Education provides a contemporary introduction to the key issues in educational philosophy and theory. Exploring major past and present conceptions of education, teaching and learning, this book makes philosophy of education relevant to the professional practice of teachers and student teachers, as well of interest to those studying education as an academic subject.
The book is divided into three parts:

• education, teaching and professional practice: issues concerning education, the role of the teacher, the relationship of educational theory to practice and the wider moral dimensions of pedagogy
• learning, knowledge and curriculum: issues concerning behaviourist and cognitive theories of learning, knowledge and meaning, curriculum aims and content and evaluation and assessment
• schooling, society and culture: issues of the wider social and political context of education concerning liberalism and communitarianism, justice and equality, differentiation, authority and discipline.

This timely and up-to-date introduction assists all those studying and/or working in education to appreciate the main philosophical sources of and influences on present day thinking about education, teaching and learning

David Carr is Professor of Philosophy of Education at the University of Edinburgh. He is author of Educating the Virtues (Routledge 1991), Professionalism and Ethical Issues in Teaching (Routledge 2000) and of numerous philosophical and educational articles.