The Common School and the Comprehensive Ideal A Defence by Richard Pring with Complementary Essays

A topical and provocative volume that invites consideration of the most fundamental issues concerning future educational provision: what is the purpose of our schools, and what should we do in them?Cutting-edge research by contributors who are leading figures internationally in philosophy and education, for whom these issues have been particular points of concern Includes a substantial keynote essay by leading philosopher of education, Richard Pring, which is the springboard for the complementary essays that follow. Engages with questions Pring raises under five themes: defending and questioning the comprehensive ideal; common schools in multicultural societies; common schools and religion; school choice and the comprehensive ideal; and common schools and inclusion Dedicated to the memory of Terence H. McLaughlin, whose tireless pursuit of the philosophical questions and challenges raised by the common school and the comprehensive ideal is emulated in these pages.

Mark Halstead is Professor of Education and Head of the Department of Community and International Education at the University of Huddersfield. He has written widely on moral education, multicultural education and Islamic education. He is currently co-editing a collection of essays by Terence H. McLaughlin.Graham Haydon is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at the Institute of Education, University of London. Much of his work has been on moral and citizenship education in plural societies. His most recent publications include Values in Education (2006) and Education, Philosophy and the Ethical Environment (2006).