ABSTRACT This paper documents the construction of a data set for Norwegian public compulsory education covering more than 160 years of educational expansion. The data include the number of students and teachers, teacher shortages measured by the share of teachers without formal qualifications and admission to and graduation from teacher education. The construction of the data is based on a historical description of the compulsory education system, including school finance, teacher wage-setting institutions and the teacher education system. From 1860 onwards, only people with completed formal teacher education can be permanently employed as teachers, which enables us to construct a consistent data series of teacher shortages. We show that admission to teacher education institutions historically increased when teacher shortages increased, but this relationship disappeared from the 1980s. This change coincides with a shift from excess demand for study places in teacher education towards a situation with excess capacity.

ABSTRACT Studies in the history of education have shown that embodied practices are closely related to teachers’ authority and that these practices are not inherent to the classrooms. While topics such as the senses and the body are gaining popularity in this field, research on vocal practices remains limited, especially concerning teachers’ vocal techniques. Consequently, this article investigates educational beliefs regarding teachers’ vocality in Belgian educational journals and manuals from 1880 to 1914. The analysed journals reveal that teachers were already encouraged to employ specific vocal tones to capture students’ attention, maintain the teacher’s authority, and convey essential moral values. The article concludes that the teacher’s voice was predominantly regarded as a didactic tool for engaging in relational authority, although its significance was still not obvious to most.

ABSTRACT This article explores the sensory and emotional dimensions of the UK School Meals Service (SMS) since 1944, arguing that the lived experiences of pupils, teachers, parents, catering staff, and policymakers have fundamentally shaped its history. The study combines archival documentary research with new oral history interviews and ethnographic case studies. It investigates how sensory experiences - such as taste, smell, and sound - have influenced emotional responses, including shame, embarrassment, and pride, particularly in relation to free school meals (FSMs). Sensory and emotional engagements with school meals are deeply embedded in social and cultural contexts, reflecting broader changes in educational policies, family dynamics, and societal attitudes towards poverty and welfare. The article highlights the stigma and resistance strategies which have shaped perceptions of FSMs across generations. It concludes that a more nuanced approach to the history of the SMS can enhance current discussions on social justice and educational equity.

ABSTRACT This article discusses how women teachers experienced the Irish revolutionary period during the time of experience, rather than in the light of what came afterwards. It argues that, while new scholarship generally succeeded in writing women into the historical narrative of the revolutionary period, it failed to explore the experiences of women teachers. The article draws on several archival collections, to present an account of emotions of protest amongst women teachers, education faculty and student teachers at Carysfort College Dublin. It also notes how convents and convent school buildings were sometimes used as “safe houses” and presents archival evidence to support this finding.