From Neglect to Nexus: Examining the Place of Educational History in Teacher Education

In faculties of education across North America, the so-called foundations of education are in crisis. Pressure to shorten teacher education programs and to focus on developing the instrumental skills of new teachers has resulted in courses in philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, and psychology being moved from the core of teacher education to the periphery. This paper describes the decline of history in teacher education using the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University as a case study. We contend this decline occurred more by systematic neglect of history’s value in professional education than by overt attack on its position as one of “the foundations” of the field. We go on to argue that history, properly taught, has the potential to provide a powerful nexus to teacher education programs helping new teachers locate themselves and individualize their personal beliefs in relation to the vast body of professional knowledge that is circulated and recycled about policy and practice.