ABSTRACT
As the extracts in this section illustrate, ‘progressive’ education (or liberal romanticism) has been the subject of considerable philosophical criticism since the publication of the Plowden Report in 1967. Apart from the work of Wilson (pp. 143-5), little has been done in England to provide a closely argued philosophical basis for this educational ideology. Significantly perhaps, the beginnings of more adequate ‘progressive’ educational theorizing have been provided by an American philosopher of science, David Hawkins, who was himself greatly influenced by his contacts with English primary schools arising out of his development work on elementary school science in the 1960s. Some of the most important points in his (1974) book of essays, The Informed Vision (Agathon), are synthesized here by Armstrong and represent ideas for the reformulation of ‘progressive’ education along more justifiable philosophical and psychological lines.
