Rousseau’s emphasis is on the inner potential of the child, the child’s needs, and the role of practical activities, play and experience in education. Because of its pristine, uncultivated state, the view of childhood is that of the ‘noble savage’, in Dryden’s phrase. Through his emphasis on the child’s unsullied nature, its right, experiences and knowledge-getting, Rousseau offers the first child-centred vision for education