History of Education in Europe

by

Orel Beilinson

• LAST MODIFIED: 23 September 2024
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0323

Introduction

The history of education is an extraordinarily rich field in European historiography. This annotated bibliography offers one map of the field. The article starts in the Renaissance and focuses on the history of formal education—that is, education in schools. The early modern period raises questions about the effectiveness of the scattered institutions that predated the compulsory mass education that 19th-century states sought to create. Together, Early Modern Education and The Nineteenth Century tell the story of centralization: how home education with tutors and governesses, on-the-job training at the workshop, convent schools, Jesuit colleges, unlicensed schools of practical literacy, and various other institutions merged into the modern school. Diversity also diminished at the continental level, with institutions like the German-language Gymnasium and the French-language Lycée becoming models for reforms elsewhere. The twentieth century saw continued efforts to realize the ideal of mass education while facing the challenge of radical politics, which often sought to reshape schooling entirely. The final section of the article addresses contemporary issues such as gender, nationalism, and colonialism across time. To address the broadest readership possible, the bibliography privileges English-language works.

Comparative Overviews

Since the history of education is taught in schools of education at least as frequently as in history departments, survey texts are frequently textbooks. Power 1991 gives a history of “Western” education as a prelude to the history of American education. Maynes 1985 and Compère 1995 target historians of education: the former synthesizes and adds original research to write a history, while the latter summarizes and comments to offer a critique of the historiography. Rüegg 1992–2011 is a history of European universities with one volume per period (medieval to contemporary). Ellis, et al. 2023 provides historiographical essays on both themes and regions.

• Compère, Marie-Madeleine. 1995. L’histoire de l’éducation en Europe: Essai comparatif sur la façon dont elle s’écrit. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang.

  The first part is a reflection on the state of the field in European academia. It is followed by a survey of the history of literacy, childhood, youth, and university–society relations in Europe (mostly limited to France, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, and Italy). Focuses on scholarship produced in Europe.

• Ellis, Heather, Mark Freeman, and Stephanie Olsen, eds. 2023. Special issue: Histories of education in the past, present and future: Trends and intersections. History of Education 52.2–3.

  Summarizes both regional and thematic developments in the history of education. For Europeanists, essays of interest include Nordic Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Western and Southern Europe, and the British Isles. Thematic essays include imperialism, science and technology, health, childhood, emotions, and the senses. Europe features prominently in these essays, especially Britain.

• Maynes, Mary Jo. 1985. Schooling in Western Europe: A social history. Albany: State Univ. of New York Press.

  A rich portrayal based on syntheses and original research of education since the early modern period. Themes include the quality of instruction in the early modern period, Enlightenment-era reformers, the professionalization of teachers, and popular reactions to compulsory education.

• Power, Edward J. 1991. A legacy of learning: A history of Western education. Albany: State Univ. of New York Press.

  Composed for use in American universities, the book charts a “Western” educational experience leading from Ancient Greece to the United States. Focuses on the uniqueness of each system to suggest their relevance for contemporary affairs.

• Rüegg, Walter, ed. 1992–2011. A history of the university in Europe. 4 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

  A comprehensive collection of essays on medieval to contemporary universities. The essays cover all aspects of university history, from matriculation and graduation to administration. Each volume follows largely the same predictable structure: broad patterns and themes, relations with authority, management and resources, teachers, students’ admission, life, careers, and mobility. In addition, Volume 1 includes one chapter on each type of faculty of the medieval university. Volume 2 has chapters on the scientific revolution and other sources of innovation in early modern Europe. The two modern volumes (3 and 4) include chapters on various disciplines, especially the natural sciences.