Abstract:

Currently, the field of educational history in China faces the challenge of lacking a global perspective, urgently requiring a shift from nation-state narratives to a global history paradigm. This transformation follows a dual path: critically deconstructing the Western-centric global educational narrative and actively constructing a discourse of Chinese subjectivity. Based on the epistemological and methodological framework of Marx’s theory of world history, this paper analyzes the theoretical limitations of Western global educational narratives. At the epistemological level, they fail to reveal the material production basis of educational globalization and its class nature. At the methodological level, they overlook the dialectical unity of productive force revolutions and communication revolutions in shaping the history of educational globalization. At the axiological level, their advocated “universalism” is essentially an ideological construct of capitalist modernity. To address these theoretical shortcomings, an analytical framework centered on the dialectical relationship between “productive forces and communication” is constructed, examining global educational history through the dual dimensions of production systems and mutual exchange. This approach establishes a global educational history perspective that reflects China's stance, aiming to advance the development of a Chinese school of global educational history research, reshape the discourse power structure of global educational history, and provide historical references and theoretical resources for global educational governance in building a community with a shared future for humanity.

Key words: Marx’s theory of world history, global history of education, educational globalization, Chinese educational historiography