This article traces the functioning of the Commissioners of National Education, outlining salient aspects of their activities in the national school system during Ireland's Great Famine of the 1840s. The role of the commissioners as an agency of government is explored in the context of their annual reports and their general response to the…

This article explores the crossover between the history of education and the history of childhood. The emergence of state-sponsored national schooling, institutions for juvenile delinquents, home-schooling and expanding higher education were legal and social manifestations of cultural assumptions concerning the needs of children and projections of…

This article considers the wartime evacuation of English public schools as a result of enemy bombing as well as the commandeering of school buildings for government and military purposes. It looks at the way evacuation was privately organised by public school authorities often relying on the 'old school tie', while also taking financial…

This paper explores the British art patronage scheme "Pictures for Schools," which sold affordable works of art to educational buyers at annual exhibitions between 1947 and 1969, focusing on the work of "Pictures for Schools" founder and organiser Nan Youngman (1906-1995) as an artist, educationalist and activist. It shows…

During the Ottoman period, 'science ("ilim", pl. "ulûm")', 'knowledge ("marifet", pl. "maarif")' and 'technique ("fen", pl. "fünûn")' emerged as three important concepts of knowledge. "Maarif", which came into prominence with Selim III, began to undergo a semantic transformation…

This paper seeks to explore the development, impact and contribution made by the New Ideals in Education conferences, which were held between 1914 and 1937. In particular, it will examine how the group emerged from the English Montessori Society and forged an identity of its own based on the thoughts and ideas of its two major protagonists: Edmond…

The Holocaust was one of the most significant events of contemporary history and still has great relevance for current times. This paper analyses the portrayal of the Holocaust in secondary education history textbooks in Spain. As this type of research has grown in the international arena, the need to review critically this event in Spanish…

During a time of post-war sensitivity to Canadian nationalism and patriotism, public feeling was aroused in 1920 New Brunswick regarding a world history textbook with a new chapter about the First World War. The American author made no reference to Canada's war efforts. The subsequent public discussion focused on issues of patriotism, citizenship,…

This article reconsiders the way in which the French language was taught in British schools from 1780 to 1830. In particular, it is shown that (contrary to recent claims) the use of recitation- and conversation-based techniques, as opposed to rule-based grammatical learning, persisted well into the 1820s, both in influential pedagogic textbooks…

This paper discusses the role of learned societies in knowledge exchange and dissemination. It attempts to "map" the organisations that are considered to reside under the term and discusses how they have developed through history. In doing so, it seeks to highlight that whilst several types of organisations inhabit the landscape of…

This article discusses how the Norwegian urban school system was developed during the eighteenth century. In the cities, there were laws for Latin as well as Danish schools. During the eighteenth century, schools for poor children were established, while towards the end of the century the importance of the school system in relation to the economic…

Recent developments derived from the increasing economic, cultural and communication interpenetration normally referred to as "globalisation" have shifted the attention of the social sciences to objects of study that have often been overlooked by historiographical traditions centred on the national states. A look at major theoretical currents of…

The failure of the Association for Education in Citizenship to gain official support for the secular and pedagogically progressive forms of education for citizenship that its founder members endorsed has previously been explained by the political impotence of the association's founder members and the professional conservatism of the educational…

Mission schools in Africa in the first half of the twentieth century were in many ways microcosms of the great educational debates of the times. The objectives of policies regarding access, governance and curriculum were part of a historical evolution of mission education but they were also increasingly a reflection of significant new trends that…

In this article the author shares a partial biography of Elizabeth Evans, who became a domestic science teacher in Britain during the First World War. This story begins with a small collection of artefacts--professional letters and personal photographs--which infuse our understanding of teaching and learning and Elizabeth's everyday life nearly a…