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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Lost in Enthusiasm? An Elementary Qualitative Analysis of 44 Years of Research in Order to Show Why Even Today Educational Historiography is Not an Unnecessary Luxury

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The statement from this article that historical reflection remains essential in educational research will not be demonstrated by one or another theoretical reasoning, but by four illustrations taken from my 44-year-old research career in the history of education. Each one of these illustrations represents an important research line of my career. The first deals with the history of primary education (mainly in Belgium, but also elsewhere). It concentrates on the relationship between continuity and change within the educational practices, in general, and on the irony and immunisation of educational innovations, in particular. The second deals with the history of educational sciences from the point of view of the history of science. The more concrete topic here is the importance of demythologising the rhetoric of the well-known ideals and idols of educational reforms. The third deals with colonial and post-colonial history of education, by zooming in on the educational realisations and its effects in the former Belgian Congo. Finally, the fourth deals with our position within the theoretical, methodological and historiographical debates of the discipline. More specifically, it wants to show the sublime relevance of the so-called irrelevant, not only as far as the research in the history of education is concerned, but also as far as its place as a teaching subject in the curriculum is concerned.