ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the creative ideas of Pestalozzi, Froebel, Fichte, Owen and McMillan and briefly sets these in the context of schooling today. Educationalists, philosophers, clerics, psychoanalysts, paediatricians and law makers have, in their various ways, propounded their theories of the realm and development of learning and moral action in young children. The teacher had to watch out for sinful tendencies and punish these on the spot. From Wesley comes the saying 'Spare the rod, spoil the child'. Pestalozzi grappled with the theory and practice of education and especially with the themes of individuality, community, agency, work and moral educability. Pestalozzi's concern with self-active thought in the child was in part a reaction against the rote pedagogy widely employed in the schooling of the period. The Occupations, which became a part of Froebel's programme for young children, were selected to offer an opportunity for controlling and modifying malleable materials.
