History of Education

Everyone agrees that the state of our education system is dreadful. But not many have tried to identify how it is that we landed here. What ideas have shaped our education system? Are there perhaps deeper questions that we should be asking about modern education and its ability to fulfill our learning needs? This course looks at the history of modern education - with a particular focus on Egypt - to try to identify how this system evolved from its early days in the 19th century to the modern day phenomenon we have all experienced first hand. To tackle this, we will read some influential texts that have shaped the discourse on education and that have aided the establishment of modern schooling world-wide. As we move along it will be interesting to look more closely at the Egyptian context by putting ourselves in the shoes of those who were in charge of the education system in its early period. Here, we will ask ourselves does our sense of allegiance to a wider national community affect our education system? Is a national education system a form of resistance to colonial powers? How did school look like early on? How did teacher training take place? We will also look at whether the absence of good quality state run education results in any alternatives . Who else takes care of education? What other alternatives to state-run formal schooling did people turn to in the past and today?

Objectives: To familiarise students with the concept of compulsory state run schooling and its origins To learn about the relationship between nationalism and education; and the impact of political change on schooling To be able to sketch out the trajectory of modern education in Egypt from the 19th century onwards To acquaint students with prominent thinkers who have shaped the debate on education both world-wide and in Egypt To be able to discuss pedagogical methods