At a time when education is increasingly being organized in functional terms, this volume stresses the centrality of the imagination in the visual arts. Illustrated in colour throughout with over 40 examples of children's work, it draws on case-study material as well as the testimonies of students, teachers and artists. Written by one of Britain's champions of the visual arts, this book successfully combines intellectual handbook for arts educators, headteachers and governers alike who wish to ensure that the strictures and structures of the National Curriculum are used wisely to deepen and enlarge aesthetic experience.