Let us entertain you. An exploratory study on the beliefs and practices of teaching history of education in the 21st century

Following recent studies that have mapped history of education research practices, this article aims to map contemporary history of education teaching practices. Drawing on data from interviews with history of education university lecturers and a global digital survey, we explore the rationale behind teaching practices and teaching beliefs in history of education. The starting point for our interest was a shared "sense of unease": we had the impression that those teaching practices and teaching beliefs were driven more by a concern to meet students' expectations and interests - to warrant their motivation and engagement - than by the content. The findings of our study provide evidence to support our concern. The contents, as well as the format of history of education courses, is changing towards what we provocatively would like to call, edutainment. This article aims to contribute to a critical self-reflection of history of education teaching worldwide.