The early history of Utrecht University (founded 1636) reflects an emerging public sphere (Habermas's "bürgerliche öffentlichkeit") of a major town in the Netherlands. This public sphere was a contested field among the different groups establishing and administering the university: university professors, town magistrates and…

There was a brief period in the long history of the suffering church in Iraq when it received a tremendous support that it could only dream about. That was between 1932 and 1969 when it was enriched by the presence of American Jesuits who gave the church much of the educational, moral and pastoral backing that it needed. In this article we shall…

Italy opened the doors of its universities to female students in 1875. The general view was that very few women were clever enough to obtain a degree, so they would not threaten social stability. Female professors would be even rarer -- a few exceptional "male" women. Access to the professions was impossible in the case of the legal…

This article is an account of the actions and achievements, i.e. the "contribution", of the Ireland Province of the Vincentian Congregation, known officially as "the Congregation of the Mission", in respect of Catholic education in Ireland and England. The approach is, first, to outline the motives and intentions of the…

To date no major study exists on the impact of the Great Famine on patterns of participation in superior education in Ireland, or on the impact of superior education on the life courses and inheritance potential of boys from small farming families. This paper provides a historical analysis and interpretation of patterns of participation in…

The institution of the seminary was established by the sixteenth century Council of Trent. Seminaries were charged with the formation of men for the priesthood. The character of seminary education was largely unchanged until the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). This article observes and comments upon the changes and developments over the past…

Purpose: Through discussion of research about the leadership of two schools, this paper explores the complexity of school leadership and how various contextual elements interact with the work of principals in schools that are attempting to create inclusive, rich, worthwhile and unique schools. A systems thinking leadership and context model is…

The sensitive question of whether censorship is permissible in the classroom has not been effectively explored, nor has there been an exhaustive survey of all occurrences of public censorship in schools. Through tracking all public occurrences, this article seeks to understand whether censorship is ever justified in both the English classroom and…

A body of scholarship on the history of the lives of Catholic teaching sisters has thrown up various challenges to educational historians. One challenge can be posed by asking how teaching sisters were able to go on to take up leadership positions. This is prompted by the observation that a particular body of literature for the period 1940-1965…

Taking into consideration a discussion on the relationship between religion and education in a laic country, and possible consequences of such relationship for society (DUARTE and NETO, 2013; EMMERICK, 2010; HAGOPIAN, 2006; MENDONÇA, 1995), this bibliographic paper aims at investigating possible effects or consequences of religion on education in…

This paper examines prime minister Robert Menzies decision to support science education in Australian schools in 1963. This was a landmark shift in policy for the federal government, but in many ways mirrors the decision of Eisenhower who brought down the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) in 1958. The paper uses a transnational approach to…

This essay investigates the development of the boys' magazine, "Our Boys," and how this became a powerful auxiliary to the Christian Brothers' work in schools. It championed the values that the Christian Brothers had propagated since their foundation in 1802. Often characterised as Celtic and Romantic, it was neither, but aimed at…

This keynote consists of two parts. The first part offers some general observations from the past related to the power (and eventual powerlessness) of education. The aim is to create a framework with which the specific case, discussed in the second part, must be interpreted. Furthermore, it is emphasised that almost every pedagogical intervention…

This paper discusses the contributions of the Dominican Sisters and Sisters of Mercy in running schools for female deaf children in Ireland during the period 1846 to 1946. The schools were established as part of an attempt to educate Catholics in the Catholic faith and provide literacy to female deaf children. In assuming the challenge of…

This article will consider the significant role which the Society of Jesus had played in the Iraqi secondary and higher education systems in the period 1932-1968. The Jesuits' Baghdad-based school and university formed a part of the substantial Jesuit educational network established across the Middle East from the nineteenth century and this…