L’Apport de l’histoire de l’éducation à la définition des politiques éducatives

The purpose of this paper is to explore how far research in the history of education can be useful in shaping educational policies. In practice this question arises in the broad context of the nature and significance of the history of education as a science. Considering the many fonctions attributed to educational history du ring the past decades, it seems possible to distinguish the following three categories : a. the history of education contributes material benefits for educational action in general and educational policies in particular either by improving pedagogical practice or developing educational theory ; b. the history of education participates in the professional formation of teachers and pedagogues who are partly responsible for educational policies, both by developing their intellectual faculties and forming desirable attitudes towards education ; c. the history of education is an intrinsically valuable enterprise. By means of illustrations, chosen from work in East-Germany, West-Germany and the United States, attention is drawn to the methodological difficulties underlying these three different patterns of expectation. In the outcome historians of education are advised to moderate functional claims towards history and become aware of the theoretical and methodological implications of the point of view adopted, whether consciously or inconsciously.