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This symposium begins with a critique by Paul Hirst of Wilfred Carr's 'Philosophy and Education' (Journal of Philosophy of Education, 2004, 38.1), where Carr argues that philosophy of education should be concerned with 'practical philosophy' rather than 'theoretical philosophy'. Hirst argues that the philosophy of education is best understood as a distinctive area of academic philosophy, in which the exercise of theoretical reason contributes critically to the development of rational educational practices and their discourse. While he acknowledges that these practices and their discourse must of their nature be directly developed in the exercise of practical reason, or phronesis, the notion of 'practical philosophy' is rejected as ultimately incoherent and illusory. In his reply to Hirst's critique, Carr identifies three central claims in Hirst's argument and takes issue with each of these. He reaffirms the need to draw upon the resources afforded by the Aristotelian tradition of practical philosophy in order to identify inadequacies in our present understanding of how philosophy is related to education. He suggests that it is only through bringing their own 'prejudices' into critical confrontation with this tradition that philosophers of education will be able to assess whether practical philosophy is incoherent and illusory, as Hirst claims, or whether it is indispensable to the future development of their discipline. In a rejoinder to Carr, Hirst, defends the claim that philosophy of education is a social practice concerned with developing justifiable propositional accounts of the conceptual relations, justificatory procedures and presuppositions of educational practices. He rejects the argument that this 'theoretical philosophy' approach must be replaced by that of a new 'practical philosophy'.

Introduction 1.Good Teaching 2.Truth and Liberal Education Liberal Education and Vocational Preparation 3.Paul Hirst's Structure, or The Uses and Abuses of an Overworked Concept The Curriculum: The Timeless and the Timebound Curriculum and the Mirror of Knowledge 4.Moral and Religious Education: Hirst's Perception of Their Scope and Relationship 5.Wittgenstein's Speculative Aesthetics in its Ethical Context The Arts, Well-being and Education 6.Education, Knowledge and Practices

This volume critically and constructively discusses philosophical questions which have particular bearing on the formulation of educational aims. The book is divided into three major parts: the first deals with the nature of education, and discusses the various general aims, such as 'mental health', 'socialization' and 'creativity' which have been thought to characterize it; the second section is concerned with the nature of reason and its relationship to feeling, will and action; finally the development of different aspects of reason in an educational context is considered.

That recent changes in government policies are having a profound effect on research and research training on teaching and teacher education in England and Wales, there can be no doubt. And that those effects are, to say the least, severely damaging is hardly disputable. What I shall try to do in this paper to make clear what is happening is to outline very briefly the framework under which such research has until recently been developed, say something on the policies now operating, draw out their more serious consequences, and in conclusion offer the best suggestions I can muster for containing the damage.

1This paper is an edited version of the author's 1978 Wiseman Lecture given at Oscott College and published in ‘The Oscotian’, 1978‐9 issue.

(1977). Rational curriculum planning: Its logic and objectives. Melbourne Studies in Education: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 26-44.

(1985). Educational studies and the PGCE course. British Journal of Educational Studies: Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 211-221.

This discussion document concerned with certain Post‐Graduate Certificate of Education courses is the result of the deliberations of a Working Party established under the auspices of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers. The members of the Working Party came both from universities and other institutions of higher education but served in an individual capacity. Rather than produce a statement of agreed recommendations, the group decided to produce a document setting out ideas and suggestions they wished to be widely discussed.

In all the great caring professions, in medicine, law and education, for example, the professionals exist to serve certain ends which we consider to be for the fundamental good of all individuals. Medicine is practised to promote health; law to promote justice. Education, I suggest, promotes the development of the individual as a person through the activities of learning and teaching. The professionals' task, in face to face contact with their 'clients', is to help each individual in the very best achievement of the appropriate end granted the client's personal, maybe unique, circumstances. The job is to look after the client's best interests in a way that the individual, or those customarily responsible for him, cannot alone discern or pursue them. The profession exists to help achieve some general good for particular individuals. And if that is so, then the client, be it patient or pupil (and sometimes parent), stands in a special relationship to the professional, to whom he commits himself, whom he trusts, for certain tasks to be undertaken on his behalf. Professional activity, however, must always be seen as operating within a particular society. In our society, professionals are employed within complex institutional structures which determine to a significant degree the more specific ends the professionals must serve, the range of activities that they can engage in, the resources available to them and so on. The institutional structure peculiar to each profession is to some extent determined by the professionals themselves, but it operates in all cases within a framework that is at least under public scrutiny, if not always under public control, through local and national political machinery. The role of any professional is thus set not merely by some general human good that he serves, but by the specific responsibilities given to him within the institution in which he must work. There are thus firm bounds determined for him that emanate from outside the profession itself as well as from within the profession, which operate through clearly established institutional systems. These bounds limit the authority of the individual professional both as to the matters with which he is to concern himself and the activities he can then engage in on his clients' behalf.

1This paper was originally given, in slightly modified form, as a public lecture at the University of Manchester School of Education in Januarys 1966.

(1965). Morals, religion and the maintained school. British Journal of Educational Studies: Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 5-18.

(1973). Literature and the Fine Arts as a Unique Form of Knowledge. Cambridge Journal of Education: Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 118-132.

(1971). Literature, Criticism and the Forms of Knowledge. Educational Philosophy and Theory: Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 11-18.

(1970). Philosophy and religious education: A reply to D. Z. Phillips. British Journal of Educational Studies: Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 213-215.

Both Professor Elliott’s paper and Mr Langford’s reply focus on three related areas of philosophical problems of educational significance and my comments will therefore be organised around these. I shall look first at what is meant by ‘the development of mind’ and the place of education in mental development; secondly, at the nature of systematic disciplines and their significance for both mental development and education; and thirdly, and very briefly, at the question of the justification of education in general.

Introduction. 1. Educational Theory Paul H Hirst. 2. Philosophy of Education Richard S Peters. 3. History of Education Brian Simon. 4. Educational Psychology John Nisbet. 5. The Sociology of Education Brian Davies.