If you want to educate human beings, you must first have a clear idea of what human beings are, and of what they ought to become. This is among the challenging claims made by the authors of this short book, whose modest aim is to introduce some of the ideas of the great philosopher and theologian St Thomas Aquinas and his interpreters in connection with contemporary educational theory. Written not for professional philosophers of education but for others involved in the educational enterprise, teachers, governors and so on, it hopes to draw them towards this intellectual tradition as a resource for challenging some of the most significant shortcomings in educational thinking today.

James Arthur, currently Professor of Education at Canterbury Christ Church University College, is the author of a number of books and articles in the field of education.

Simon Gaine is a Dominican friar and teaches theology at Blackfriars, Oxford.

Hugh Walters teach religious education at St Ambrose College, Cheshire.