Grounded in a firm commitment to the value that a historical perspective might bring to current and recurrent educational concerns, of which educational professionalism remains key, this book presents eight distinctive historical chapters that explore the complex relationship between politics, professionals and practitioners in a range of different educational contexts. It offers a timely contribution to current debates about the contested place and status of educational professionalism in modern society. This book was originally published as a special issue of History of Education.

Introduction: Politics, professionals and practitioners 1. Can we still speak of there being an academic profession? 2. Intellectual portraits: politics, professions and identity in twentieth-century England 3. Context, curriculum and professional knowledge 4. Knowledge, character and professionalization in nineteenth-century British science 5. Reconstructing the life histories of Spanish primary school teachers: a novel approach for the study of the teaching profession and school culture 6. Re-shaping teacher identity? The Liverpool Teachers' Centre 1973-1976 7. 'That great educational experiment': the City of London Vacation Course in Education 1922-1938: a forgotten story in the history of teacher professional development 8. Conceptualising and researching the professionalisation of Religious Education teachers: historical and international perspectives

Wendy Robinson is Professor of Education at the University of Exeter, UK. She has published extensively in the history of education, with a particular focus on the history of teaching. Her books include: Pupil Teachers and their Professional Training in Pupil Teacher Centres in England and Wales, 1870-1914 (2003); Power to Teach: Learning through Practice (2004); and A Learning Profession? Teachers and their Professional Development in England and Wales 1920-2000 (2014).

Rob Freathy is Associate Professor of History of Education at the University of Exeter, UK. His research interests include religious education, education for citizenship, the historiography of twentieth century education, and the application of historical methods in educational research. His recent publications include Religious Education and Freedom of Religion and Belief (2012) and History, Remembrance and Religious Education (2015).

Jonathan Doney is a Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, UK, an Associate Lecturer at the University of Winchester, UK, an honorary Research Associate with the International Centre for Historical Research in Education, and holds a post-doctoral fellowship from the British Academy, funded by the ESRC. His wider research interests are in methodological innovation, critical studies, and the role of education in developing identity.