This article argues that the history of mass education as it was written in Great Britain between 1870 and 1914 became an important site for debating what it meant to be British and the nature of progress. In particular, it explores different perspectives on when and where to begin a history of mass education, whom or what to make central to it,…

Reviewing the historiography of education provides insights into both the past and present of this growing area of research across the UK and Ireland. In the nineteenth century research reveals a close association with national identities. These were often Whig histories that celebrated the present and emphasised the progressive nature of…

Following a period of close to a century when the Irish language was placed at the margins of the education system under British rule, there was a radical change in curriculum provision following political independence in Ireland in the 1920s. The importance of the Irish language in defining sovereignty, national identity, and nationhood in the…

This dissertation examines the writings and experiences of five Indian international students in the United States during late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By drawing attention to these students, I attend to the ways in which notions of freedom, progress, and inclusivity associated with American higher education, and liberalism more…

Modern universities have largely been portrayed in the literature as an extension of nation building projects, focusing on the state as primary actor. This article challenges such presuppositions by separating 'nation' and 'state' and with a critical appropriation of diasporic subjectivity and institutions from a comparative historical…

Indian students in Britain before the Second World War were a sizeable social group who exerted noticeable influence on Indian nationalism and on British institutions and society. The politics of race and empire were mediated through British schools and universities in this period with consequences for Indian students, and their peers. This…

A geophysical perception of the ecumene had always existed in the consciousness of Indians even in precolonial days. But with the advent of the British, and with the establishment of territorial mapping and institutionalised education, there was a growing awareness of differences and similarities related to ethnicity, race and space. Colonial…

"Chinese" is an ambiguous term, depending on whether it is taken to describe a political, linguistic, or cultural entity. While the term has often been considered to represent a politically and culturally homogeneous national identity in recent decades, this article aims to challenge this notion by examining the characteristics and…

The process of Chinese nation-building in education reveals the hegemonic strategies of the colonial power and the adaptation of indigenous forces when Hong Kong was undergoing decolonisation and the transfer of sovereignty. The return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty has been a crucial indicator for the potential re-unification of China, as it…

Calligraphic culture in education had a long tradition in the Hispanic World. This entailed the cultivation of specific forms of script to the detriment of others. Since the late eighteenth century, discussions about the shape of letters and the differences between different alphabets were associated with national characters. The "letra…

This article examines how politics has shaped Hong Kong's education system and the curriculum 23 years after the British handover of Hong Kong to China. Particularly, through the concept of nationalism, the article examines how the education system is being shaped. The article is intended to provide international readers with a perspective of the…

This article uses a comparative historical approach to examine the Teachers for East Africa (TEA) and the Teacher Education in East Africa (TEEA) programs, an influential educational development effort that involved U.S. and British college graduates in East African schools and colleges during the decade of 1961-1971. Drawing on postcolonial…

This paper examines the educational policy implemented by the British for the Malays, the indigenous community of Malaya. Underpinned by the policy of divide and rule, the British implemented a dualistic system of education for the indigenous Malays: one for the Malay peasantry and another for the Malay nobility. The two systems of education…

This paper uses Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) data on applications and entries to full-time undergraduate courses to examine the changing flows of students across the boundaries of the four countries of the United Kingdom (UK), over a period (1996-2010) that embraces parliamentary devolution. It asks whether the emergence of…

The book is entitled History Wars in the Classroom: Global Perspectives and examines how ten separate countries have experienced debates and disputes over the contested nature of the subject, for example the "Black Armband" and "Whitewash" factions in Australia who adopt opposingly celebratory or denigratory views of Australian…