David Blundell is Principal Lecturer in Education Studies at London Metropolitan University, UK.

Blundell provides an authoritative overview of the many publications about the social construction of childhood, coupled with an original analysis of the moral and theological origins of the concept of childhood and their relevance to contemporary society and schooling. This is an important book for those involved in the education and care of children at all levels.

• Foreword Series Editors' Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: Education and the Construction of the Child 1. Lightening Our Darkness: Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment 2. A Pastoral Symphony: Pestalozzi, Froebel and Romanticism 3. Reclaiming Earthly Paradise: Froebelians and the Invention of Progressive Education Part II: Mass Schooling and Modern Childhood 4. Industry, Philanthropy and Industrial Education Systems 5. 'Christian children all must be ...': Moralists, Moral Panics and Empire 6. State Schooling and the Construction of 'Public Childhoods' Part III: Schooling in the Century of the Child and Beyond 7. Brave New Worlds and Rhapsody Renewed: New Rationalities, New Institutions and Old Ideas 8. The Shape of Jazz to Come: Plowden, Progressivism and Discourses of Difference 9. Can Things Only Get Better? New Labour, Quality of Life and Beyond References and Bibliography Index