History of Education Society UK Podcast
History of Education Society UK 30 episodes Nov 24, 2025
The History of Education Society UK Podcast presents interviews, ideas, and thought-provoking discussions from across the field of the history of education and beyond. It features collaborations and publications connected to the society and its wider scholarly community. The show is aimed at anyone interested in educational history, research, and contemporary debates in the field.
Episodes
6_01 AnneMarie Brosnan - A Contested Terrain
Dr AnneMarie Brosnan, Associate Professor in the History of Education at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick joins Oliver Mumford to discuss her latest book: A Contested Terrain: Freedpeople’s Education in North Carolina During the Civil War, examining the education experiences of Black North Carolinians through the American Civil War and Reconstruction period. The episode will discuss
5_06 Tim Allender - Empire Religiosity (Part 2 of 2)
In this two-part instalment of Passing Notes Oliver Mumford is joined by Professor Tim Allender of the University of Sydney to discuss his award-winning book Empire Religiosity: Convent habits in colonial and postcolonial India. Professor Allender’s research considers how the Loreto Sisters - Roman Catholic female missionaries - operated in colonial and postcolonial India to carry out their educat
5_05 Tim Allender - Empire Religiosity (Part 1 of 2)
In this two-part instalment of Passing Notes Oliver Mumford is joined by Professor Tim Allender of the University of Sydney to discuss his award-winning book Empire Religiosity: Convent habits in colonial and postcolonial India. Professor Allender’s research considers how the Loreto Sisters - Roman Catholic female missionaries - operated in colonial and postcolonial India to carry out their educat
5_04 Jonathan Doney - Policies of Instrumentalization in English Religious Education
In this episode Oliver Mumford is joined by Dr Jonathan Doney from the University of Exeter to discuss Dr Doney's book: Unearthing Policies of Instrumentalization in English Religious Education Using Statement Archaeology. The book was awarded the 2023 Kevin Brehony Prize by the History of Education. Dr Doney discusses the origins, purpose and method of his approach: statement archaeology. Th
5_03 Gary McCulloch - Brian Simon and the Struggle for Education
Professor Gary McCulloch joins Oliver Mumford to discuss the life and work of Brian Simon, following Professor McCulloch’s recent biography of Brian Simon, authored with Antonio F. Canales and Hsiao-Yuh Ku. The episode explores the life of Brian Simon through his family life and educational experiences, his political engagement and beliefs, campaigns for equal secondary opportunities through compr
5_02 Anne Swift - The National Education Museum
In this episode Oliver Mumford speaks with the Chair of Trustees at the National Education Museum, Anne Swift. Anne discusses the ideas behind the Museum's foundation, its development, and future. The significance of a new national museum, dedicated to the history of education in England and Wales is considered along with its current relevance.Note: This episode was recorded before the 4th Ju
5_01 Rosalind Crone - Illiterate Inmates: Educating Criminals in Nineteenth Century England
In this episode Professor Rosalind Crone of the Open University joins Oliver Mumford to discuss her book Illiterate Inmates: Educating Criminals in Nineteenth Century England. The book was awarded the 2023 Anne Bloomfield Prize by the History of Education Society UK, and examines the development, rise, and decline of prison education in England between 1800 and 1899. Discussing her research, Profe
4_01 Catherine Lee Legacies of Section 28
Professor Catherine Lee of Anglia Ruskin University in conversation with Syeda Ali about her research into Section of the Local Government Act which was passed in the UK in 1988. The law prohibited the 'promotion' of 'homosexuality' by local authorities in state schools and was the first anti gay-propaganda law. Lee reflects on her time as teacher during Section 28, and subse
3_04 Roland Wittje - Relocating Education in the History of Science and Technology
To accompany the 50th Anniversary special edition of the History of Education Journal, we spoke to some of the contributors. These podcasts focus on two of the themes in the journal:Geographical historiographies of education andThematic intersections with the history of education.Episode 4 - Intersections: Histories of Science and TechnologyIn this episode, Roland Wittje, Associate Professor in H
3_03 Laura Newman - Bodies of Knowledge: Historians, Health, and Education
To accompany the 50th Anniversary special edition of the History of Education Journal, we spoke to some of the contributors. These podcasts focus on two of the themes in the journal:Geographical historiographies of education andThematic intersections with the history of education.Episode 3 - Intersections: Histories of Medicine and HealthIn this episode, Laura Newman, Postdoctoral research associ
3_02 Johannes Westberg - Bright Nordic Lights, A revitalized interdisciplinary history of education in the massified higher education of the Nordics
To accompany the 50th Anniversary special edition of the History of Education Journal, we spoke to some of the contributors. These podcasts focus on two of the themes in the journal:Geographical historiographies of education andThematic intersections with the history of education.Episode 2- GeographyIn this episode, Johannes Westberg, Professor of Theory and History of Education at the University
3_01 Desmond Ikenna Odugu - Education in Africa: A Critical Historiographic Review
To accompany the 50th Anniversary special edition of the History of Education Journal, we spoke to some of the contributors. These podcasts focus on two of the themes in the journal:Geographical historiographies of education andThematic intersections with the history of education.Episode 1 - GeographyIn this episode, Desmond Ikenna Odugu, Associate Professor of Education at Lake Forest College in
2.12 - Performance Nineteenth Century Jesuit Schools with Michael Zampelli, SJ
We’re back today with our second of three episodes looking at the performing arts in education. In this episode, we move forward to the nineteenth century to look at theatre in Jesuit schools in the United States. My guest this week, who will walk us through this history, is Michael Zampelli, SJ. Michael is a theatre director and historian at Fordham University, where he also directs the MA Philos
2.11 - Performance in Early Modern Schools with Amanda Eubanks Winkler
For our next few episodes, we’re going to turn to performance and look at how music, theatre and dance have intersected with education in the past. Our stop will be in early modern England, where Dr Amanda Eubanks Winkler will be our guide to performance in the schoolroom. Amanda is a historian of English music in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and twentieth centuries at Syracuse University. Her res
2.10 - Time and Community in Medieval Schools with Sarah Lynch
We're excited to share a special guest episode today from our colleagues at HEQ&A, the official podcast of History of Education Quarterly. They have an outstanding archive of episodes, but given the interdisciplinary focus of this season, today I thought we’d share an interview they did with Sarah Lynch, where she discusses her most recent article, Marking Time: Making Community in Mediev
2.9 - The history of knowledge with Tamson Pietsch and Joel Barnes (Replay)
I'm taking a few weeks off this summer to work on my dissertation, so instead of new episodes we'll be sharing some of our favorite interviews from the archive. We'll also have some guest episodes from other history of education podcasts.In today's episode, Bethany White speaks to Dr. Tamson Pietsch and Dr. Joel Barnes about their work on the connections - and tensions - betwee
2.8 - International Education in Australia with Anna Kent
Continuing our exploration of international student experiences, this episode we move to the other side of the world and examine the experience of overseas students in Australia. Beginning in 1948, Australia offered a number of different scholarship programmes targeted at students from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. To guide us through the soup of acronyms and ‘schemes’ is Dr Anna Kent. A
2.7 - Differential Fees for Overseas Students with Jodi Burkett
The half a million international students studying in the UK are heirs to a complex legacy of overseas students studying in Britain. From medieval scholars traveling between Oxford and Paris, medical students traveling to Edinburgh, Indian students coming over in the late 19th century, or Chinese students studying in London today – politics and education combine in these students studying away fro
2.6 - Networks of Empire with Brianna Lafoon
Today’s conversation picks up on the discussion of American imperial education from our last episode. I speak with Brianna Lafoon, who researches the education networks that formed within and between the mainland United States and its colonial holdings. We discuss how these networks operated, the practices and ideas they spread, and how an imperial perspective informs the history of mass schooling
2.5 - Empire & Education in the Philippines with Funie Hsu and Malini Johar Schueller
In today's episode, I was lucky enough to speak with not one but two researchers! Both Funie Hsu and Malini Johar Schueller look at the role of race and racialisation in shaping education policy during the American occupation of the Philippines. Our discussion focuses on the introduction of compulsory, English-language education, the role that conceptions of race played in developing that sys
2.4 - Holocaust Education in Britain with Daniel Adamson
In today’s episode, we continue our series on graduate student research with an interview with Daniel Adamson. We discuss Daniel’s research on how the British response to the Holocaust is represented in schools and museums, as well as how Daniel uses approaches from memory studies to information his research. Daniel Adamson is a PhD student at Durham University whose research focuses on represent
2.3 - Technology & The Historian with Adam Crymble
On today’s episode, we speak with Adam Crymble about his new book, Technology and the Historian, which looks at the history and development of digital history as a discipline in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. Adam’s book focuses on the (longer than you might expect) history of using computers to do historical research and the different ways historians have integrated digital met
2.2 - Gender & Sexuality in American Public Schools with Rachel Rosenberg
As part of our commitment to sharing the work of graduate students and early-career researchers, one episode a month of Passing Notes will highlight the work of one of these scholars working in the history of education.Today’s episode is a conversation with Rachel Rosenberg about her dissertation research, which examines the policy of gender and sexuality of American public school teachers in the
2.1 - Distance Education in the Eighteenth Century with Rachel Bynoth
For our first episode of the season, we talk with Rachel Bynoth about distance education in the late-eighteenth century and how using the dual lens of gender and emotions can help us better understand educational processes. We focus on Rachel's recent article in History, A Mother Educating her Daughter Remotely through Familial Correspondence: The Letter as a Form of Female Distance Education
Season 2: Passing Notes
Did you ever got caught passing notes in class? I definitely did. Welcome to Passing Notes - Season 2 of the History of Education Society’s podcast. In this season, we’re going to talk with the people who have kept passing notes. Each episode you’ll hear from historians of education and other scholars whose research intersects with the field in exciting and thought-provoking ways. They’re the kind
05. A Cultural History of Education book series with Gary McCulloch and Heather Ellis
This month we were joined by Professor Gary McCulloch and Dr. Heather Ellis to talk about the new book series, A Cultural History of Education, which is out now from Bloomsbury. Spanning thousands of years, from antiquity to present day, this ambitious new series takes a thematic approach to the cultural history of education. It traces themes such as church, religion and morality; family, communit
04. The history of computer education and the European digital agenda with Carmen Flury and Rosalía Guerrero
For this month's episode we were joined by Carmen Flury and Dr. Rosalía Guerrero to talk about their research into computer education in Europe, as part of the project 'Education and the European Digital Agenda: Switzerland, Germany and Sweden after 1970', based at the University of Zurich. We explore how computer education emerged in Sweden and East Germany, and the conditions that
03. Public history, educational history and historical representations of the Holocaust with Nicholas K. Johnson
This month we spoke to Nicholas K. Johnson from the Center for German-American Educational History at the University of Münster about a new edited volume, Show, Don't Tell. Education and historical representations on stage and screen in Germany and the USA. Our wide-ranging discussion touches on the definitions and uses of public history; transatlantic developments in the field; the relations
02. The history of knowledge and the history of education with Tamson Pietsch and Joel Barnes
To kick off 2021 we're joined by Dr. Tamson Pietsch and Dr. Joel Barnes to talk about their work on the connections--and tensions--between the fields of the history of knowledge and the history of education. We discuss how the focus and methods of the history of knowledge can help us think through how knowledge is produced and legitimated; understand the role of institutions; and develop our
01. Commemorating the 1870 Education Act with Professor Jane Martin
To launch the History of Education Society UK's brand new podcast during this year's virtual conference, we spoke to Professor Jane Martin about the 150th anniversary of the 1870 Education Act. We talk about how and why the Act emerged; its connections to early socialist and feminist movements; the impact of the Act on working-class children and girls' education; how the Act played
