Preface.- Acknowledgements.- 1. Defining Knowledge.- The Spread of Education.- Conflicts in Learning.- Poetry and Teaching: William Wordsworth.- Imagination and Fact.- Poetry and Schooling: Matthew Arnold.- Fiction and Memory: Charles Dickens.- 2. Religious Learning.- Changing Balances.- Evangelical Seriousness.- Educating Clergymen.- A Complete Education.- The Uses of Ignorance: John Ruskin.- 3. Teaching Women.- Gender and Education.- A Generation of Schoolmistresses - Literary Case Studies.- The Educated Heart: Charlotte Bronte.- Teaching Independence: Ellen Wood.- Practical Faith: Elizabeth Sewell.- 'School-Time': George Eliot.- Finding the Way.- 4. New Conversations - Education, Education, Education.- False Distinctions.- 'To School an Intelligence and Make it a Soul'.- The Mechanics of Learning.- Admiration, Hope and Love. This groundbreaking book combines a historical interpretation of Victorian educational debate with a critical overview of contemporary educational thought. Traces the roots of contemporary educational practice in the values of Victorian thinking Combines detailed consideration of Victorian sources, literary and non-literary, with reflections on their legacy in the 21st century Reflects on questions of social class, religion, and gender as the Victorians defined them in relation to educational ideals Suggests challenging connections between literary and social history and contemporary dilemmas