The development of educational history writing gained momentum in the first half of the 19th century. Its development was closely linked to the development of teacher training, and textbooks for use at different levels of education played an important role in the formation of the discipline. Research (eg. Tröhler, 2004, 2006) points out that the content and storytelling of these textbooks are strongly linked to national (and imperial) frameworks. Although never exclusive, the nation as a framework for interpretation for educational history research has remained dominant over the last two centuries.

However, the last few decades of international educational history writing have been marked by a suspicion of this national frame. Some researchers drew attention to the fact that national histories might mean the return of a utilitarian use of the history of education (Depaepe, 1997).

Many of the most significant new findings in research are due to the fact that researchers have moved beyond national frameworks to examine inter- or, more recently, transnational influences and phenomena (eg. Fuchs, 2012). However, it is typical mainly for researchers from major nations to transcended national frameworks.

In my presentation, I will show how the processes of the period outlined above (from the late 19th century through the 21st century) can be understood from the perspective of a small country. Focusing on a narrower field, I will show how the nation and internationalism as a framework for interpretation is represented in the contents of the textbooks used in teacher education in Hungary

In my research, I examined textbooks published between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 21st century, used at different levels of teacher education in Hungary. For most of the period under study, there was a clear separation between the training of teachers of primary schools and that of teachers of (upper) secondary schools. This difference is clearly visible in the textbooks on the history of education. Drawing in part on empirical data, I will illustrate the differences between the textbooks and the phenomena under study.

The examined textbooks clearly show the continuities and discontinuities in the educational history canon. As one of the results of the research we can explore the range of topics covered and can show that these, especially the classics presented, show a remarkable constancy. At the same time, the research has also shown that the exclusivity of the nation as a framework for interpretation has not characterised Hungarian textbooks on the history of education in any period, but that they have constantly included events and classics from international history of education. This does not mean, of course, that the authors were characterised by some kind of inter- or transnational approach. It merely shows that the history of education in a small nation cannot be written as a 'world history', and that there is always a balancing act between national and international frameworks.

Depaepe, M. (1997): Demythologizing the Educational Past: An Endless Task in History of Education. Historical Studies in Education, 9(2). 208-223. Fuchs, E. (2012). Transnational perspectives in Historical Educational Research. In E. Fuchs (Ed.) Transnationalizing the History of Education. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag. Tröhler, D. (2004). The Establishment Of The Standard History Ofphilosophy of Education and Suppressed Traditions of Education. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 23(5-6), 367-391. doi:10.1007/s11217-004-4450-3 Tröhler, D. (2006). History and Historiography of Education: Some remarks on the utility of historical knowledge in the age of efficiency. Encounters/Encuentros/Rencontres on Education, doi:10.15572/enco2006.01