Abstract
Abstract: As the title suggests, this article is a theoretical and methodological one, which looks mainly at the conceptualization of the history of education as a fi eld of research. In doing so, it is also partly historiographical, as it deals with the history of pedagogical historiography, concentrating on the way in which the history of education was written and conceptualized in former times. Th e general idea is that the discipline has shifted over the years from an “over-educationalized” point of view towards a more historical one – a paradigm shift that has been labelled, moreover, as a “new cultural history of education”. On the basis of earlier studies, some implications of this evolution are discussed further in this paper: the relevance of the discipline, the development of appropriate conceptual tools, and the use of sources for the history of education. Keywords: pedagogical historiography, theory and methodology of history of education, relevance, conceptual tools, sources.
Highlights
The history of education has been conceived mainly as a history of pedagogical thought, as an adjunct to “pedagogy”, delivering possible guidelines and solutions for educational practices as well as for the formation of an educational theory
Which immediately raises the issue of relevance
There is a danger that educational historians, who traditionally work in pedagogical institutions – general, social, and cultural historians seem to pass up on the opportunity of contributing to the history of education except when it comes to writing histories of universities – are considered an unnecessary luxury as a result of the gradual historicization and the related marginalization of educational history
Summary
The history of education has been conceived mainly as a history of pedagogical thought, as an adjunct to “pedagogy”, delivering possible guidelines and solutions for educational practices as well as for the formation of an educational theory. During my career as a historian of education, I have become more and more convinced that pedagogical historiography will either be historical or not. I want to demonstrate this claim by looking back historically at the quest for a “relevant” history of education. I am convinced that this enduring pursuit of relevance has led, ironically, to irrelevant educational research, including research into the history of education. In my opinion it is only when we, as historians, enter the domain of the history of science that we will be able to say something meaningful, based on our own competence, about possible aberrations of historical research in education. The proof of the pudding is still in the eating
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