ABSTRACT
A key purpose for the history of education has been to inform an understanding of the extensive educational reforms that have taken place in many countries, and to engage critically with these, with the aim of establishing a ‘usable past’. Much of my own work has been concerned with attempting to relate historical analysis to contemporary policy developments. In this chapter I will rehearse the arguments that have sustained this approach, reflecting on its development over the past generation, and will then assess how far this has been effective and propose some lessons to be learned.
