Abstract

There presently exists a really delightful and vigorous array of approaches to schooling which can be used to transform the world of childhood if only we will employ them. (Joyce & Weil, 1972, p. xiii)

Writing more than 40 years ago Joyce and Weil (1972) argued that at a time of fearsome educational trouble there were “approaches to creating environments for learning” (p. xiii) that could serve different educational purposes and different ways of thinking. The title for their preface “we teach by creating environments for children” seems as apt a way of positioning this chapter as it does for their book. We live at a time when education has become a policy center for national governments and an increasingly fertile ground for global comparisons, where teachers are being de-professionalized and curricula are being written to exclude rather than include their insights and passions (Apple, 1992; Au, 2011; Sloan, 2008; see also Penney, Chapter 9; Parker & Patton, Chapter 30). Like Joyce and Weil, we face some fearsome troubles and we need to create environments that can serve the diverse needs of the learners in our care.