Learning or being taught?: Children's minds and educational policy

This paper explores, from the point of view of children themselves, the crucial educational experiences. It outlines the conditions of childhood, like the underrated intelligences that observe and analyse the world, the need for intellectual relationships and the objective stance with which the conflicts and the contrasts of the world are understood.
This application of individual understanding can expose children to ontological insecurity. The great fears of children, given their puzzling out issues of structure and agency, are those of being wrong-footed, of feeling humiliated and or unfairness.
The paper outlines the experience of schooling in the light of children's emotional and intellectual capacities and summarises the accumulated empirical research. it gives a new insight into many aspects of educational policy, from testing to inspection, and from the role of teachers to the influence of home, the media and peers.
It outlines the role of education in social and personal transformation.