School History

This lecture (in German language) is discussing the genesis and longtime impact of the humanistic school reform, which took place alongside the reformation in the 16. Century.

The enthusiasm for the Roman and Greek culture and language were deeply implemented in the German educational system. Proofed even by dropouts of the Gymnasium (the German Latin School) like Heinrich Schliemann, who was able to proof the existence of Troy with his excavations, only following the memorized Homer-Epos.

On August 28, 1518, Philipp Melanchthon - just 21 years old - held a fiery inauguration speech in the Wittenberg Castle Church demanding a reform of the education for the youth. His words did not falter - unlike reform announcements today - because he soon found numerous collaborators, who linked the reformation of the religious with an educational reform. Today's Gymnasium is a remnant of this break-up time.

In addition to his overcrowded courses at the Wittenberg University, Melanchthon was able to test his didactic principles since 1520 in his home school. The strict supervision and the high educational ideal seemed to be effective. Already in 1522 Melanchthon proudly informed the court that several of his disciples were able to read Homer in the ancient Greek original. In 1527/28 he transferred his experience into the visitation order and was thus also able to co-organize the urban school system of Electoral Saxony (Kursachsen). In 1528, Melanchthon's high reputation as tutor lead to the opportunity to create the syllabus even for the Electoral prince.

Many pupils and students of Melanchthon were strongly influenced by his teachings. Melanchthon's ideal of useful education found its echo in numerous urban school regulations in Central Germany and beyond. In 1523 the Melanchthon pupil Leonhard Nather († 1545) tried to reorganize the Zwickau Latin School for teaching in the three languages, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. A survey listed the ancient authors of the curriculum for their usefulness to society.

1531 the Lusatian scholar Valentin Friedland from Troitzschendorf († 1556), also one of Melanchthons students, wrote a school code for the Goldberg school (Złotoryja), which was based on the Roman Republic. The students - as questoren, discophori, consuln etc. - organized themselves, albeit always under the supervision of the dictator perpetuus, ie the teacher.

Melanchthon's high esteem for education is thus evident in all Protestant church and school regulations. Also, the Leipzig Superintendent Johannes Pfeffinger († 1573),a Melanchthon student, wrote 1545 in a church regulation: "If you want to help the world, you have to take care of the schools [...], because in the sermon office [...] in preserving order and manners, one must have righteous godly learned people, which one can take nowhere, then out of school."

У раду се бавимо појединим аспектима свакоднeвног живота ученика Богословије у Призрену у периоду између два светска
рата (просторни и хигијенски услови, здравље, исхрана и ваннаставне активности). Изворну основу истраживања чине годишњи извештаји о раду Богословије, али и они полугодишњи и тромесечни, као и остала службена преписка између управе Богословије и надлежног министaрства и других државних и верских институција. У досадашњој научној литератури ова питања нису довољно истражена. Дошли смо до закључка да је свакодневни живот ученика био динамичан и прожет многобројним проблемима који су имали дубље друштвене узроке (као што су финансијска немоћ државе, тешко наслеђе Првог светског рата итд.), али
је Богословија и поред тога, захваљујући, пре свега, ангажовању својих ректора и професора, остваривала своје образовне и васпитне задатке на завидном нивоу.
Кључне речи: Богословија, Призрен, свакодневни живот, ученици,
хигијена, здравље, исхрана

Deadline: 10. Dezember 2014
Kontakt: werkstatt2015@ife.uzh.ch

Die Zürcher Werkstatt Historische Bildungsforschung ist eine Tagung für Doktorierende, an der grundlegende Fragen der historiographischen Forschungstätigkeit anhand konkreter Dissertationsprojekte diskutiert werden können. Dabei sollen die Beiträge das Problem fokussieren, wie im konkreten Fall jeweils Fragestellung, methodische und theoretische Prämissen sowie Quellen aufeinander bezogen werden können.

Before designing a national Continuing Professional Development programme for teachers, it was considered imperative to find out more about what was already happening in classrooms across the country and to listen to teachers about their experiences, needs and challenges in teaching about the Holocaust. This landmark study explores when, where, how and why the Holocaust is taught in state-maintained secondary schools in England. Research began in 2008 and was published in 2009. The researchers employed a mixed methodology over two phases. First, quantitative data was gathered via an online survey completed by 2,108 teachers. This survey contained 54 questions and was completed by teachers from a range of subjects and backgrounds. Second, qualitative data was acquired through follow-up interviews with 68 teachers in 24 schools in England.
The research produced wide-ranging findings, relevant to academics, educators, teachers and policy-makers, including:
The Holocaust was taught in all secondary years in several subjects, with most attention in Year 9 History (aged 13 to14).
Teaching time varied considerably, with an average of six hours spent on the subject.
Although some teachers demonstrated detailed specialist knowledge and clear understanding, others had significant gaps in subject knowledge.
Many seemed to draw on popular rather than academic discourse.
Teachers indicated their teaching tended to be dominated by a focus on Auschwitz and the persecution of the 1930s. Scant attention was given, for instance, to pre-war Jewish life, or victims’ perspectives. This reflected and perpetuated perpetrator-orientated narratives found in many textbooks.
85% of teachers believed the Holocaust should be compulsory in the secondary history curriculum, but many struggled to articulate its distinct historical significance.
Many teachers prioritised civic-based (e.g. focused on broad understandings of racism, prejudice, discrimination) over subject-specific teaching aims (e.g. focused on understanding the Holocaust as an historical phenomenon) . There was also uncertainty over how to define the Holocaust, though most indicated they understood the Holocaust to include various victim groups rather than focus on the particular fate of Jewish people.
Very few teachers received specialist professional development. 82.5% considered themselves self-taught and 77.5% wanted CPD.

The Sustainable Development Goal-4 (SDG-4) of the United Nations observes that education is the force multiplier which enables self-reliance, boosts economic growth by enhancing skills and improves people's lives by opening up opportunities for better livelihood. The SDG-4 emphasizes on achieving universal quality education. India has already made remarkable progress in universalizing elementary education. Now, the country is striving towards achieving universal secondary education. We know that the secondary education is a period, wherein students focus on their abilities and skills to pursue higher order skills and prepare themselves for the world of work and excellence in academics. In today's competitive world, children need to have opportunities to understand the basics and acquire the skills which are needed globally. This warrants for ensuring that every child develops skills and competencies required for effective functioning in the new century. This is possible only if all learners are provided equal opportunities for learning and the emphasis is shifted from memorization to developing competencies.

The re-contextualization of prehistoric archaeology in Modern Greek education



The re-contextualization of prehistoric archaeology in Modern Greek education is indicative of the Greek society’s perception of the past. In recent years there has been a lot of changes in Greek secondary education. New curricula, textbooks and pedagogical ideas and concepts were introduced in Greek schools while the importance of the use of Information and Communication Technologies is now given. The development of museum education at the same time led to several educational programs that are designed in order to familiarize students with archeology and prehistory. Prehistoric archaeologists are, also, looking for new ways in order to communicate with the student audience 

The  re-contextualization of prehistoric archaeology in modern education can be observed through a) the textbooks for students and teachers, b) the existing educational software for aiding the History teaching and c) the scenarios, lesson plans, and projects which are developed both in formal education contexts,  like History teaching and in semi-formal education contexts, like  Environmental Education.

Prehistoric archaeology is re-contextualized in Greek modern education in a rather “traditional” way. It contributes to the representation of the past, and in the “performance” of memory in all the possible educational ways (writing and reading, the use of pictures, multimedia applications, software etc.). The "preference" in the study of the Mycenaean, the “first Greek civilization”, and Minoan civilization, the “first civilization of Europe” is obvious. There is, also, a tendency to reproduce the standard ideas about prehistory, and to explain its periods through an evolutionary model. Moreover, there are no references to critical for the contemporary archaeological theory issues such as gender identities, agency, symbols and meaning or any concern for the intercultural student audience of many contemporary Greek schoolrooms.

Is prehistory for the education, still, “the excluded past”, as it was, according to P. Stone and R. Mackenzie, in the late 20th century? The answer is, in many ways, yes. But today there is also a great opportunity. The challenges of the future education could be combined with concepts which are crucial for the interpretation of the prehistoric past. The creation of active citizens with cultural awareness, environmental consciousness and understanding, and respect for the "other" may be a lesson for the future

This article forms part of more extensive research on the changes that took place in school culture during the Fascist dictatorship in the years following the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). That research is limited to the island of Majorca and draws from a variety of different sources, including photographs. The present paper focuses on analyzing the sources of such photographs, although other testimonies and sources are also taken into account when the conclusions are drawn. The elements featured here provide material for furthering the debate on the possibilities photography offers in detecting the changes and continuities in school culture at a time of radical political transformation.


Cet article fait partie d’une enquête plus large sur les changements introduits dans la culture scolaire pendant les années suivirent la Guerre d’Espagne (1936-1939) avec la mise en place d’une Dictature Fasciste. L’étendue de cette enquête a été limitée au contexte de l’ile de Majorque, à partir de sources diverses, parmi lesquelles se trouvent les photographies. Ce texte se focalise sur l’analyse des sources photographiques même si, au moment de tirer des conclusions, d’autres témoignages ont également été pris en compte. Dans les pages qui suivent des éléments sont apportés pour nourrir le débat sur les possibilités qu’apporte la photographie dans l’identification de changements et continuités dans la culture scolaire pendant une époque de transformation politique radicale. 


Este artículo forma parte de una investigación más amplia sobre los cambios que en la cultura escolar se introdujeron en los años que siguieron a la Guerra Civil española (1936-1939) con la implantación de una Dictadura fascista. La investigación se ha realizado acotada al contexto de la isla de Mallorca, a partir de fuentes diversas, entre las cuales se encuentran las fotografías. El presente texto se ha centrado en el análisis de las fuentes fotográficas aunque a la hora de sacar conclusiones se hayan tenido presentes otros testimonios. En las siguientes páginas se aportan elementos para el debate sobre las posibilidades que tiene la fotografía a la hora de detectar los cambios y continuidades en la cultura escolar durante una época de radical transformación política.

The doctoral dissertation titled «Primary Education in Majorca (1939-1949). School culture and practices» focuses on studying school practices carried out by teachers after the end of the Spanish Civil War. In general, the view on schools under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco tends to be overly homogenous and stereotypical. For that reason, this doctoral dissertation aims to analyse the extent to which school practices in those years broke away from the set of teaching-learning practices and strategiesbelonging to some of the movements for pedagogical renewal in Spain since the late 19th century. The dissertation limits itself to the study of a specific territory, the island of Majorca, and to a specific time period, the decade of the 1940s. Two main questions form the basis for this dissertation. First was to find out whether school practices in those years changed radically, or to the contrary, whether there were any continuities of those practices for renewal. Secondly, it was of interest to know the extent to which school practices influenced the construction of the school culture Franco’s regime hoped to impose. At that time the aim was to make all realms of public life as uniform as possible, including primary education. The study herein investigates whether those politically approved guidelines and ordinances took immediate effect or, to the contrary, if schools kept an entire set of practices and habits that guided their operation regardless of the legislative orders. The methodology used in the dissertation is the historical method adapted to the field of the history of education, along with borrowings from other social sciences such as ethnography, sociology, etc. that allow closer scrutiny of some of the practices that characterised schools at that time. To find out more about this practice, different sources were used, such as practicum journals kept by Education student teachers, journals kept by applicants for teaching posts, photographs, oral histories, notebooks, etc. These and other, more classical sources in education history research (the press, bureaucratic documentation, legislation, etc.) have proved useful in furthering teachers taught reveals that some of them continued to apply teaching methods that were characteristic of the pedagogical renewal movements. This may be due in part to the fact that many of the teachers who were teaching in the 1940s had been teachers before the war as well. Teachers had been purged, but they were also heirs to an earlier school culture, and most of all, custodians of an entire set of knowledge and methodological resources that, amidst a context of political transformation, their school practices showed more continuities than breaks.knowledge of day-today classroom practices. The main findings of the dissertation indicate that while on the political level the aim was to break cleanly from the reformist pedagogic legacy, the practices in those early years show more continuities than breaks. On the theoretical level, traditionalism and Catholicism were upheld as bastions to guide school practices, but a closer look at how teachers taught reveals that some of them continued to apply teaching methods that were characteristic of the pedagogical renewal movements. This may be due in part to the fact that many of the teachers who were teaching in the 1940s had been teachers before the war as well. Teachers had been purged, but they were also heirs to an earlier school culture, and most of all, custodians of an entire set of knowledge and methodological resources that, amidst a context of political transformation, their school practices showed more continuities than breaks.

Link: http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/460905

Après les attaques du régime de Vichy contre l’école républicaine, la Libération semble ouvrir une ère nouvelle pour l’institution scolaire et pour les films se déroulant dans une école et ayant pour thèmes la pédagogie et la transmission. Une ère nouvelle pour l’école : les mesures de Vichy sont abrogées, et le plan Langevin-Wallon, inspiré des principes de l’Éducation nouvelle, va brièvement cristalliser une aspiration collective à changer l’école. Une ère nouvelle pour les films sur l’école : avant même la Libération, Noël-Noël incarne dans La Cage aux rossignols (Dréville, 1944) une conception progressiste de l’éducation et une vision optimiste de l’avenir de l’école en France ; quelques années plus tard, dans L’École buissonnière en 1949, Jean-Paul Le Chanois s’inspire des expériences de Célestin Freinet pour célébrer les méthodes modernes d’un jeune maître d’école. Cet article se propose d’analyser ces deux films en les réinscrivant dans leur contexte historique : après l’Occupation, comment le cinéma français a-t-il exprimé l’aspiration à une « nouvelle école » et à la refondation du pacte républicain ?

Après les attaques du régime de Vichy sur l’école républicaine et les représentations cinématographiques souvent ambiguës et parfois réactionnaires de l’enseignement diffusées durant les « années noires », dont certaines portent clairement les marques de l’idéologie pétainiste et du fascisme, la Libération semble ouvrir une ère nouvelle pour l’institution scolaire et pour les films se déroulant dans une école et ayant pour thèmes la pédagogie, l’éducation et la transmission. Avant même la Libération, en 1944, dans La Cage aux Rossignols de Jean Dréville, Noël-Noël incarne à la fois une conception progressiste de l’éducation à rebours de la propagande vichyssoise et une vision optimiste de l’avenir de l’école en France. Quelques années plus tard, en 1949, Jean-Paul Le Chanois s’inspire des expériences pédagogiques innovantes de l’instituteur communiste Célestin Freinet pour célébrer, dans L’École Buissonnière, les méthodes modernes d’un jeune maître d’école adepte de l’Éducation nouvelle, en les opposant au conservatisme des habitants d’un petit village passéiste.
Dès l’année suivante, pourtant, les représentations de l’école et de l’enseignement perdent cet enthousiasme utopique et se teintent d’une forme de désenchantement, comme si les films réalisés après 1950 portaient d’une certaine façon le deuil des réformes avortées de l’Éducation nationale, des espoirs déçus du Plan Langevin Wallon et de l’ « impossible pérennisation » (Savoye, 2004) des méthodes de l’Éducation nouvelle, qui commencent à décliner à cette période.
De 1944 au début des années 1950, comment le cinéma français a-t-il successivement exprimé l’aspiration à une « nouvelle école » et les espoirs déçus de la IVe République ?