2016/04/28 by Ken Osborne
Social Sciences · #Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy #Global Education and Multiculturalism #Global Educational Policies and Reforms
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/hoeq.12181
openalex publication_date 2016/04/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
After the First World War, the League of Nations, through its International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, attempted to reshape the teaching of history in its member states. The League's supporters realized that its long-term success depended in part on supportive public opinion and that this, in turn, had implications for education. Aware of the strength of national loyalties, the League sought not to abolish the teaching of national history but to suffuse it with the spirit of the “international mind.” To this end, the League promoted revision of history textbooks and curricula, retraining of teachers, and rethinking of teaching methods. National governments responded by including some study of the League in history curricula but ignored the League's broader plans. Nonetheless, the League's attempt to internationalize the teaching of history opened up a debate that continues today as schools seek to strike a balance between claims of national and global history.