Thomas Arnold the teacher

Thomas Arnold was Headmaster of Rugby for about 15 years, and his name has become a household word in the history of the English public school.Yet he has not written a coherent account of his pedagogical ideas and teaching methods. Such knowledge as we possess of his classroom practice and school life at Rugby in general derives from detailed descriptions by one of his former pupils and – more indirectly – from scattered observations and reflections in his impressive literary output, which deals mostly with historical and political issues, from some of his letters, and from the collection of the sermons which he preached at his school on Sundays.

Surprisingly, no attempt has been made so far to give a life-size portrait of Thomas Arnold as a teacher. This book pieces together the available evidence about his pedagogical theory and practice, trying to evaluate his achievement in the light of the tendencies of his own age as well as seen with the eyes of modern pedagogy.