Interview with Heinz-Elmar Tenorth

Abstract

Professor Heinz-Elmar Tenorth till 2011 was Professor for the History of Education at Humboldt-University in Berlin. Before he studied and did his PhD at the University of Würzburg. After he stayed in the same institution for some years as research assistant before becaming professor in the educational area, first in Frankfurt a. M. and then till his retirement in Berlin. As researcher he is very well known in his field and he was also the head of several large projects funded by the DfG and other foundations. Additionally, many of his publications are well known amongst researchers in the field of educational research. The topics he published about are broad and cover theoretical reflections in the field of education and especially history of education as well as research results. Of special interest has always been the idea of «Bildung» for him, for example combined with reflections about political influence, institutional structures or the ideas of «Bildsamkeit» and «Grundlegende Bildung». Also professionalism of teachers and researchers in the field of education are further topics he worked on and is still working on. Luckily he is still very active as researcher and enriches the field of education with reflexive and innovative approaches in different ways. Reading his publications is as refreshing as it is informative and in some ways, it represents a challenge in the most positive sense of the term.