Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a suggested map and panoramic view of alternative value perspectives and suggests some of the issues they pose for education. It discusses the value alternatives in greater detail within the social and educational context of western society. The book offers a synthesis of the elements now needed in a strategy of educational regeneration, if education is to contribute fruitfully to the exploration not only of the intellectual, but also of the affective and spiritual dimensions of human experience. The 1988 Education Reform Act uses the term 'spiritual' in relation to the curriculum, and this presumably refers to its non-secular dimensions; however, spiritual is not defined. The taken-for-grantedness of secular materialist values, culminating in a morally anarchic individualism, needs to be challenged for its eroding influence upon what education can contribute to maintaining civilized humanity.