Histories of education and the unending dialogue:a reflective account of 21st century historical practice

"History consists of a corpus of established facts. The facts are available to the historian in documents, inscriptions, etc., like fish on the fishmonger's plate. The historian collects them, takes them home, and cooks and serves them in the style he likes."<br/><br/>This is how EH Carr answered “What is history?” some sixty years ago. Carr recognized that history was “an endless dialogue between the past and the present.” It is the role of historians to ask, question, gather and interpret evidence, and assemble the facts that correspond. Ultimately, the past is the past, and history is made in the present by historians. If all history is constructed in the present, it should come as no surprise that each new generation of historians asks new questions about the past. These new questions align with the different forms of history (economic, social, cultural, educational, sensory, postcolonial, public, restorative, etc.) that collectively make up the historical enterprise. How history is told and the reflective processes of making history are central to the “endless dialogue.” This article will use a case study to explore the “endless dialogue”, documenting historical practice from a particular intellectual, institutional and geographical perspective and reflecting on the ways of knowing, connections, relationships and associated research networks and research products. In the process, it will address the histories of education in the past and present and identify possible histories of educational futures.