Annual Report 2015, Budapest

The ECER conference held in Budapest was in many respects a successful edition for network 17: Histories of education.

First of all, the special call for papers send out in October 2014 undoubtedly had an impact on the amount and quality of the papers presented throughout the conference. Many of the accepted proposals focussed on the conference theme (education in transition) and the different subthemes identified by the convenors in the special call. the overall quality of the presentations was very good.In total 15 sessions (2 in parallel) were organized containing 31 individual presentations, 3 symposia and 1 workshop. One of the sessions was a joint session with network 13.

Secondly, besides the usual suspects - being historians of education pure sang - network 17 also attracted an increasing number of proposals coming from different disciplinary fields. This tendency definitely contributed to the interdisciplinary exchange during the sessions. On average approximately 40 scholars attended each sessions (with the exception of some sessions that attracted a smaller number of participants - mainly due to the fact that these were parallel sessions). If this number is of course very satisfying, it also brought with it some logistical problems, the main problem being the lack of chairs and the fact that during several sessions people needed to stand.

Thirdly, network 17 participated in the discussions and events with regard to the refugee initiative. A special session was organized throughout which the participants discussed the possible contributions of historians of education towards the growing awareness of a global refugee problem.

Finally, as always network 17 organized different social events such as the network dinner that were greatly appreciated and contributed greatly to the welcoming atmosphere and inspiring discussion held throughout the conference.