The Future of the Past. Teaching the History of Education, between Old Problems and New Challenges

Abstract

In this essay, I reflect on the state of education history teaching and the difficulties it faces. I start with a question that, at this point, has become atavistic among those who teach historical subjects: What is the purpose of education history? In my answer, I argue that it is not enough to say that all educational practice is historical practice to explain the importance of a subject like ours. It is essential to renew the arguments about the place that education history training should occupy, both for the development of essential human faculties and for employing its methods and approaches in the analysis of the contemporary educational landscape. Based on this, I systematize a series of assessments on the subject that were shared by representatives of national societies of history of education at the 46th ISCHE Congress in Lille (France), distinguishing four common trends. Finally, I outline the foundations of a model for weighing the strength of the field of history of education.