A topical and provocative volume that invites consideration of the most fundamental issues concerning future educational provision: what is the purpose of our schools, and what should we do in them? Cutting-edge research by contributors who are leading figures internationally in philosophy and education, for whom these issues have been particular points of concern Includes a substantial keynote essay by leading philosopher of education, Richard Pring, which is the springboard for the complementary essays that follow Engages with questions Pring raises under five themes: defending and questioning the comprehensive ideal; common schools in multicultural societies; common schools and religion; school choice and the comprehensive ideal; and common schools and inclusion Dedicated to the memory of Terence H. McLaughlin, whose tireless pursuit of the philosophical questions and challenges raised by the common school and the comprehensive ideal is emulated in these pages

Table of Contents:
Preface (Paul Standish, Institute of Education, University of London). Introduction: The Common School (Richard Pring, Lead Director, Nuffield Review 14-19 Education and Training, previously Director of Educational Studies, University of Oxford). Part I: Defending and questioning the Comprehensive Ideal. 1. In Search of the Comprehensive Ideal: By Way of an Introduction (Graham Haydon, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Education, Institute of Education, University of London). 2. On the Necessity of Radical State Education: Democracy and the Common School (Michael Fielding, Professor of Education at the Institute of Education, London University). 3. Common Schooling and the Need for Distinction (Robin Barrow, Professor of Philosophy of Education, Simon Fraser University, Canada). 4. Educational Justice and Socio-Economic Segregation in Schools (Harry Brighouse, Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison). Part II: Common Schools in Multicultural Societies. 5. Culture and the Common School (Walter Feinberg, retired from the University of Illinois as the C.D. Hardie Professor of Philosophy of Education and is now serving as a Faculty Fellow at the Spencer Foundation). 6. What is Common about Common Schooling? Rational Autonomy and Moral Agency in Liberal Democratic Education (Hanan Alexander). 7. Common Schools and Multicultural Education (Meira Levinson, Assistant Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education). 8. What Not to Wear: Dress Codes and Uniform Policies in the Common School (Dianne Gereluk, Senior Lecturer, School of Education, Roehampton University, London). Part III: Common Schools and Religion. 9. Religious Education, Religious Literacy and Common Schooling: a Philosophy and History of Skewed Reflection (David Carr, Professor of Philosophy of Education, University of Edinburgh). 10. Religious Worldviews and the Common School: the French Dilemma (Kevin Williams, Senior Lecturer in Education, Mater Dei Institute, Dublin City University). 11. Common Schools and Uncommon Conversations: Education, Religious Speech and Public Spaces (Ken Strike, Professor of Cultural Foundations of Education, Syracuse University, and Professor Emeritus, Cornell University). Part IV: School Choice and the Comprehensive Ideal. 12. How and Why to Support Common Schooling and Educational Choice at the Same Time (Rob Reich, Associate Professor of Political Science, Ethics in Society, and, by courtesy, Education, Stanford University). 13. From Adam Swift to Adam Smith: How the ‘Invisible Hand’ Overcomes Middle Class Hypocrisy (James Tooley, Professor of Education Policy, University of Newcastle). 14. School Choice, Brand Loyalty and Civic Loyalty (Mary Healy, Doctoral student, Institute of Education, University of London, and Teacher, Leys Primary School, Stevenage, Hertfordshire). Part V: Common schools and inclusion. 15. Capability and Educational Equality: the Just Distribution of Resources to Students with Disabilities and Special Educational Needs (Lorella Terzi, Senior Lecturer in Education, Roehampton University, London). 16. A Question of Universality: Inclusive Education and the Principle of Respect (Ruth Cigman, Senior Research Fellow, Philosophy Section Institute of Education, University of London, and Lecturer in also teaches medical ethics and law, University College London). 17. The ‘Futures’ of Queer Children and the Common School Ideal (Kevin McDonough, Associate Professor of Education, McGill University). 18. ‘Lookism’, Common Schools, Respect and Democracy (Andrew Davis, Research Fellow, School of Education, Durham University). 19. In Place of a Conclusion: the Common School and the Melting Pot (Mark Halstead, Professor of Education and Head of the Department of Community and International Education, University of Huddersfield, England). Index.