Originally published in 1967, this book is aimed at the student teacher and discusses the philosophy of history and the effective learning of it. It discusses the UK secondary school history syllabus, with a particular emphasis on whether contemporary history is of more relevance to pupils than traditional history. There is a specific chapter on the problems of value-judgements in history and history teaching. From a psychological point of view, the book examines the problems of concept formation, the uses and dangers of analogy and the question of imagination and inference in child and adolescent thinking.

First published in 1963, Principles of History Teaching examines the nature of the teaching problem; historical events and the problem of teaching them; explanation in history and the arrangement of events for teaching; and problems of the syllabus. The book studies the relationship between practical problems of teaching history in school and theories about the nature of history as a subject.The reader will come to question that which before seemed obvious. This textbook on the theory of history teaching is for graduate students in training, for non-graduate teachers in training colleges who may like to study the problems they will face in greater detail, and for practising teachers to reconsider their outlook. They will all meet an adequate mental challenge.

Looked upon in his day as the philosopher of the Utilitarians, James Mill was an independent thinker centrally concerned with problems of education. Professor Burston's study places Mill's Essay on Education, his contribution to the Encyclopaedia Britannica of the day, in its historical context and examines the views expressed in this and in other private and published writings, discussing in detail how Mill's view of ethics, psychology and theory of knowledge related to his theory of education, his practical experience as a teacher (especially of his own children) and to his philosophical position as a whole. This work will be of value to all interested in the interrelations of history, philosophy and education in the early nineteenth century.

James Mill's two principal published works on education are the article 'Education', for the Encyclopedia Britannica, written in 1815, and the pamphlet Schools for all, in preference to Schools for Churchmen only, written in 1812. The first was general and theoretical, and raises points about the relationship between the aims of education, psychological theory and social life. It is a classic document of utilitarianism. The second was written as part of the debate about the interlocked themes of primary education, monitorial education, and religious education. It is practical and political, and one of the first statements about secularism in education and the need to provide primary schooling for all in England. Mr Burston's introduction relates the two pieces to Mill's general intellectual and philosophical position, and to the historical context in which he wrote. Notes explain allusions in the text, and there is a bibliography.