The Case for History of Education in Teacher Education

Overview & Synopsis

Students have much to benefit from courses pertaining to the history of the teaching profession. History of education, as a course to be taken in teacher education, has been greatly minimized in the ensuing years. Approximately six per cent of colleges/universities require a course in this area for prospective teachers. When being a student in the undergraduate, Master's degree, as well as the Doctorate in Education levels, one or two history of education courses were required within each degree. A part of my teaching load in 1962-1964 was to teach History of Education for two school years in teacher preparation classes. When retiring in 1992 after thirty years of University teaching, history of education was taught, only, as a part of the course Foundations of Education. How salient is History of Education in teacher education preparation programs? In my graduate Elementary School Curriculum class, a history of education was taught, very briefly, as a small part of the course content.