ABSTRACT
In education, progressivism is a term equivalent to the British notion of child-centred education, or the American idea of open education. At the beginning of Primary Education in Scotland people are told: This suggests that for the identification of needs progressivism is likely to turn to developmental psychology. This chapter has outlined the picture of children favoured by progressives: for many educators this portrayal has been a persuasive one. But it should be clear that progressivism, like any other set of educational prescriptions, is not a scientific theory but an ideology. Progressivism is not just a respecter of childhood, but a respecter of individual children and their differences. Diversity is welcomed as something that makes life richer: hence there is in progressivism a built-in suspicion of the kind of schooling which puts pressure on children to conform. In education, however, there is likely to be disagreement about what it is to enjoy educational health or to be educationally well-nourished.
