First Published in 1989

This book is, in a sense, a text-book of educational psychology designed mainly for those with little previous knowledge of the subject. But it is not a conventional text-book.

To begin with it does not cover the whole area which normally defines educational psychology. It concentrates instead on those aspects which are most directly applicable to understanding the processes related to learning, intellectual skills, and acquiring knowledge.

Also the book does not aim to provide a detailed coverage; it is deliberately selective in the topics which are covered. The main aim is to present an outline, or perhaps an overview, of current ideas in educational psychology in the hope of providing a more coherent picture of what otherwise tends to be a rather fragmentary set of topics drawn from mainstream psychology.

Read in conjunction with more conventional textbooks, this overview should provide a good guide to the recent literature.