A selective history: aspects of children's culture and architecture for children

The history of childhood and early childhood education is long and complex. It is argued about up to the present time with important educationalists claiming their doctrines to have been the first or the most significant. If radical thought is at the very root of innovatory ideas in education, then pre-school systems or ideas like ‘child-centred learning’ or ‘open teaching’ may be viewed as influential prototypes for many developments in general education during the 20th century. A number of these ideas were reflected in early examples of nursery school architecture.