This collection of essays, edited by the distinguished historian of education Richard Aldrich, examines past, present and future relationships between the private and public dimensions of knowledge and education. Following the introduction, it is divided into three sections:

* key themes and turning points in Britain in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries
* examples from the twentieth century of non formal education with particular reference to girls and women, the care and education of pre-school children, sex education and family history
* an analysis of the private and public dimensions associated with globalization and international education and of examples drawn from Australia and the USA.

This book will become required reading not only in respect of contemporary and historical debates about private and public spheres in education, but also with reference to the wider themes of the creation, diffusion and ownership of knowledge.