The ground that lies between education and work is the most contested area in contemporary education. Governments in English-speaking countries are firm in their resolve to change educational policy and school curricula in order to lay greater emphasis on preparing children for the world of work. With contributions from England, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland, Australia and the United States, this book assembles claims relating to work and education that are lasting ones: claims about which we can be reasonably certain. It offers this knowledge as the background theory needed by those teaching, administering, or deciding policy and curriculum in education for work. More than this, the book has points of view of its own: it presents a humanistic conception of work and education; it sees work as the central life activity that has created human civilization; it argues for policies of full employment in societies and discusses the part that eduction can play in those wider social policies; it warns against utopian policies for disruptive change in this area, favouring small-scale initiatives that will modify the way that teachers conceive of their task; it presents "studies in work across the curriculum" as a timely organizing idea for secondary schools to embrace; and it argues that if training for work is necessary for young people, then it needs to be integrated into a school curriculum that has education as its goal.