Professor Peter Jarvis has spent over 30 years researching, thinking and writing about some of the key and enduring issues in education. He has contributed well over 30 books and 200 papers and chapters in books on learning theory, adult education and learning, continuing professional education, nurse education, primary school education, distance education and third age education.

In this book, he brings together 19 key writings in one place. Starting with a specially written Introduction, which gives an overview of Peter's career and contextualises his selection within the development of the field, the chapters cover:

This book not only shows how Peter's thinking developed during his long and distinguished career; it also gives an insight into the development of the fields to which he contributed.

In the World Library of Educationalists, international scholars themselves compile career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces – extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, major theoretical and/practical contributions – so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow the themes and strands of their work and see their contribution to the development of a field, as well as the development of the field itself.

Contributors to the series include: Richard Aldrich, Stephen J. Ball, John Elliott, Elliot Eisner, Howard Gardner, John Gilbert, Ivor F. Goodson, David Labaree, John White, E.C. Wragg .