ABSTRACT
An older tradition of the history of education was widespread in the first half of the twentieth century that stressed the contribution made by modern national systems of education to broader social progress. This chapter examines the characteristics of this tradition of writing, and how it came to be undermined and displaced as the dominant approach to the history of education. The traditional characteristics of the history of education bore marked similarities in many nations around the world. However, the pivotal struggles over the nature of the history of education took place at different times in particular national contexts. An international debate took place over this time, but it played itself out in different ways according to specific national, social and political conditions. A powerful critique became established in the US from the 1950s onwards, leading to new work of a fundamentally different kind. By contrast, in New Zealand, for example, this did not take place until the late 1980s. The chapter focuses in particular on these two cases to consider their similarities and differences.
