John Wesley's attitude to, and involvement with, the education of children has not so far received the attention that it deserves. ‘Kingswood School’ may readily spring to the mind of the non-specialist, together perhaps with Wesley's aphorism that ‘he who plays as a child will play as a man’. In this detailed and wide-ranging study, her first venture into book-length publication, Linda Ryan not only describes and critiques Wesley's thinking and practice in the field, but also sets them clearly in their social, economic, and pedagogical context.
Successive chapters guide the reader through clearly differentiated, though necessarily overlapping, areas of education, each supported from a wide range of both primary and secondary sources. An ‘Overview of Chapters’ in the introduction provides a useful guide to the reader who might otherwise feel overwhelmed by detail, and the reiteration of the relevant ‘Overview’ material at the beginning of nearly every chapter, while...
