A Study On Thoughts And Practice Of A.S.Neill's Affective Education

The Summerhill School founded by Alexander Sutherland Neill was described as"one of the most humanized happy schools".In the school,affective education is everywhere.The thoughts and practice of A.S.Neill's affective education have a deep influence on generations of headmasters,teachers and parents,and also attract many educators over the world.The author attempts to present the formation of the thoughts and practice of A.S.Neill's affective education by consulting relevant historical materials,focus on the contents of the thoughts and practice of A.S.Neill's affective education,and compare the thoughts of affective education between A.S.Neill and other educators.From the historical perspective,the author hopes to explore the significances and deficiencies of the thoughts and practice of A.S.Neill's affective education as well as the important implications to Chinese education.The whole dissertation consists of introduction,main body and a conclusion.The introduction mainly elaborates upon the reasons for choosing the topic,the significance of the study,the literature review,the definition of core concepts,and the research routes and methodologies.The main body is divided into four parts.The first chapter is"the formation of the thoughts and practice of A.S.Neill's affective education" which describes the influence of historical background,personal experience and psychology.The second chapter is "the contents and practice of A.S.Neill's affective education"which discusses on educating children with love and praise,the mutual penetration ofaffective and intellectual educations,breeding creativity within education,and erecting positive morality.The third chapter is "the comparative analysis between A.S.Neill and other educators on affective education" which refers to the uniqueness of A.S.Neill's affective education through the comparison with Jean-Jacques Rousseau,Ellen Key,John Dewey and Maria Montessori.The fourth chapter is "the evaluation of the thoughts and practice of A.S.Neill's affective education" which firstly analyses the significance and deficiencies of the thoughts and practice of A.S.Neill's affective education,and finally explores the important implications to Chinese education.The conclusion rethinks and summarizes the whole dissertation,points out the contributions and shortages of the dissertation,and looks forward to be helpful for the research and exploration in the future.Although there are disputes and deficiencies on the thoughts and practice of A.S.Neill's affective education,the dissertation holds that they still promote the reform of the New Education Movement in Europe,encourage people to pay attention to the mental health of children,and make an indelible contribution to the development of affective education.