Is Marc-Antoine Jullien de Paris the ‘father’ of comparative education?

Abstract

More than any other historical figure, Marc-Antoine Jullien of Paris has been considered the ‘Father’ of Comparative Education, and his Esquisse d’un ouvrage sur l’éducation compare, appearing in 1816–17, has been viewed as that field’s originating source. Yet, the view that Jullien is the first in his field, and that his Esquisse is the field’s foundational work, is open to doubt. This article shows that the issues of Jullien’s pre-eminence can be explored by means of a variety of approaches. It examines challenges to Jullien’s pre-eminence in the pantheon of founding comparativists by addressing several sets of questions. First, is Jullien the first comparativist of education? Did Juillien have predecessors or, for that matter, successors with equal or greater claim to that status? Second, did Jullien set the binding path for Comparative Education, or did he set just one among several normative paths? Finally, is the issue of Jullien’s pre-eminence tied to a common definition of Comparative Education? Or, do varying definitions of the field produce contrasting assessments of Jullien’s pre-eminence?