History of Education in Europe

Abstract

The history of education is an extraordinarily rich field in European historiography. This annotated bibliography offers one map of the field. The article starts in the Renaissance and focuses on the history of formal education—that is, education in schools. The early modern period raises questions about the effectiveness of the scattered institutions that predated the compulsory mass education that 19th-century states sought to create. Together, Early Modern Education and The Nineteenth Century tell the story of centralization: how home education with tutors and governesses, on-the-job training at the workshop, convent schools, Jesuit colleges, unlicensed schools of practical literacy, and various other institutions merged into the modern school. Diversity also diminished at the continental level, with institutions like the German-language Gymnasium and the French-language Lycée becoming models for reforms elsewhere. The twentieth century saw continued efforts to realize the ideal of mass education while facing the challenge of radical politics, which often sought to reshape schooling entirely. The final section of the article addresses contemporary issues such as gender, nationalism, and colonialism across time. To address the broadest readership possible, the bibliography privileges English-language works.