On the Methods and Methodologies of Historical Studies in Education

Abstract

This part of the Handbook of Historical Studies in Education addresses a perennial theme in the field of historical research in education. Since the development of historical studies of education in the early twentieth century, the place of historical studies, oftentimes grouped into “foundations of education” or “history of education” programs at colleges and universities across the globe, has been contested. In the wake of neoliberal and corporate-driven reform of the twenty-first century, the methodology of historical studies and the foundations of education are often marginalized. In some instances, historical studies of education have even been shut down or absorbed into more quantitative-orientated programs.