Liberalism, Human Values and Schools as Microcosms of Society: Rediscovering Education for a Moral Future

This seminal volume provides an accessible overview of key ethical and philosophical debates surrounding contemporary education policy, advocating for a future in education that is primarily driven by prioritising social values.

Grounded in the educational ideas of recent British liberal and philosophical thinkers, including Roger Scruton, Mary Midgley and Brenda Almond in particular, the book provides a deeper understanding of the importance of intellectual and moral freedom as it plays out in today’s schools. The book echoes Almond’s call for education to be viewed through the lens of social values and argues for a broader societal strategy to the philosophy of education than narrowly utilitarian attempts to prepare pupils for the labour market. Chapters present various debates in society that relate to liberalism, social values and utilitarianism, and ultimately encourage dialogue on the approach towards education that is necessary to create a socially adjusted, thoughtful and genuinely knowledgeable society of the future.

By encouraging readers to think about the requirements of the schools of tomorrow along with their role in shaping both individual lives and society itself, this book will be of interest to scholars, postgraduate students and researchers in the fields of philosophy of education, education studies and moral and value education. Those interested in the sociology of education and citizenship studies more broadly will also benefit from the volume.

Martin Cohen is Editor of long-standing UKjournal The Philosopher, and is best known as the author of a number of popular introductions to thinking skills (including 101 Philosophy Problems, Routledge, 2013, now in its fourth edition).