In the late 1950s plans were initiated to bring a higher level of professionalism to the training of educational professionals. New projects included introducing contemporary scholarship from the humanities and social sciences into colleges of education to revitalize the education knowledge base. In North America and the United Kingdom, analytical philosophers were recruited to inaugurate a ‘new philosophy of education.’ Analytical philosophy of education soon spread throughout the English speaking world.

By the 1980s this analytical impulse had largely subsided. Philosophers trained in analytical philosophy and their students turned to more ambitious normative pursuits related to problems of social justice and democracy. Meanwhile, feminist philosophers opened up new issues regarding the education of women and the nature of teaching and knowing, and a new wave of pragmatist philosophers turned to issues of educational policy. By the 1990s Anglo-American philosophers of education welcomed a dialogue with counterparts in Western Europe, and the field responded to established trends in European philosophy ranging from critical theory and phenomenology to post-structuralism. New leaders emerged in philosophy of education representing all of these various strands.

This volume documents the emergence of contemporary philosophy of education as seen by those spearheading these trends.

Based on these narratives, the Foreword by Jane Roland Martin and the Afterword by Leonard Waks argue that the field is at a crossroads: it can be strengthened through generous, mutually beneficial dialogue among the various strands, bolstered by cooperation on pressing global problems of educational policy and practice, or weakened by further fragmentation and external neglect. This presents a challenge for those working in philosophy of education now and in the coming years.