Consensus and Revisionism in Educational History

Abstract

Historical interpretation is subject to change, a process often described as revisionism. This chapter distinguishes between a basic form of revisionism that changes or erases the past with no respect for evidence and a “historical revisionism” that has developed over the past century to build on, revise, or challenge previous accounts of the past. Historical revisionism is discussed with reference to changing historiographical approaches. It has become central to research in the history of education, for example in the United States and Britain. A broad consensus has been established in the history of education to explore the relationship between education and social change, although this has itself led to fresh debates over the nature of this relationship. These general historiographical developments in the history of education have played themselves out in different nations and regions, albeit at their own pace and at different times.