The Standing Working Groups are small, thematically organized research groups within ISCHE, designed to coordinate research and discussion on a set topic, guided by specific research goals, for a set period of time.
Educational Media in Comparative Perspective
Convenors: Eckhardt Fuchs, Ian Grosvenor, Daniel Lindmark
Part 1: session 2.12.
Part 2: session 3.15.
Pensée critique des enseignants / Teachers and Teachers Associations Critical Thinking
Convenors: André Robert, Fréderic Mole, Bruno Garnier, Michaël Attali
Part 1: session 5.16.
Part 2: session 6.16.
Gender and Education
Convenors: Ruth Watts, Christine Mayer
Session 7.9.
Résumés
abstracts
Jeudi / Thursday 8:30 - 10:30 Room: 4189
1.1. La construction des représentations de la jeunesse, entre cadre national et international / Constructing youth identity, between national and international contexts
Chair: Bengt SANDIN
Keeping the youth safe: textbooks and practices for chilean secondary students in a critical juncture (c.1900-c.1930)
Pablo TORO, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile
At the first decades of XXth century Chilean secondary education was considered as a formative space for republican middle and upper classes cadres. According to that role, there was an idealized notion of youth behavior. In the early years of this period there was no space left for activities that could put in danger the isolation supposed as required to achieve a moral and political education intended to be patriotic, laical and liberal. As the social conflicts arose in Chile there was a perception of growing threats of politization and increasing undesirable contacts with popular youth and other social actors (university students, workers organizations) that, according to the adult view, made urgent a need of control over students. Given that, there was a wide range of pedagogical actions in order to accomplish that preventive goal. Educational and hierarchical actions outside the Liceos (secondary schools) as students expeditions; massive nationalist ceremonies that were conceived as means for aligning youth with the patriotic values; nationwide reception and encouragement to the Boy Scouts organizations can be seen as attemps to keep the youth safe. Those efforts can be understood as an outcome of the crossing points between Chilean education and social and politics ideas with a worlwide circulation that were identified as dangerous, in a process that became critic and led to curricular changes (e.g. the configuration of civic education as a mandatory asignature in secondary education) and modifications in textbooks and teaching. Among all the politicals perils raising in a context of social clashes marxism, anarchism and cosmopolitism were considered major hazards to youth soul as they challenged the students´s commitment to the foundations of liberal democratic system and threatened to erode their alleged patriotic loyalty. In this paper we present an overview of circulation and appropriation in Chilean education of ideas concerning youth social and political control, mainly expressed through educational textbooks. Those concepts, intended to keep the “real youth” out of boundaries of social and politic conflicts, are tracked also in teachers´s practices and discourses. By following some key concepts (democracy, social conflict, citizenship, among others) and taking into account their changing existence and meanings in social sciences, history, moral and literature textbooks, our investigation shows that there was a relevant shift during this period, a turn expressed both in texts (with new explicit political orientations and moral censorship on antiliberal and social movements) and in teachers´s actions intended to build a protection against politicization of young students. These changes can be seen as the local response of institutions and teaching actors as they had to deal with a global process that entangled educational systems and political awareness about raising young people.
The export of the Swedish democratic vision, re-education of German children and youth - the Swedish contribution.
Ann DEHLIN, Department of Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden
After WWII the Swedish Government and NGOs, such as for instance the Swedish Save the Children Fund (Rädda Barnen) became involved in the large project to "re-orientate" the Germans. Within Swedish NGOs the issue to enable "the spiritual recovery" of German children became an important part of the relief-work that was undertaken in Germany. Amongst Swedish politicians their existed a pride of the developing welfare state and within this, the Swedish model of a democratic society. This model of society was considered by the Swedish politicians to be so well functioning that it could serve as a role-model for other countries. Apparently inspired by this, a mission to export and teach the Swedish vision of a democratic society was going to permeate the relief-work that was undertaken for children and youth in Germany, after WWII. This vision was an important consideration when establishing apprentice homes and children's homes by Swedish authorities and NGO's in Germany. To realize this it was not only important to teach the children how live in a democratic society it was also important to teach German pedagogues how to raise children and youth in a democratic manner. To raise children in a democratic manner and to include this within the school curricula became a well established notion within Sweden after the war. Inspiration came from the United States, were some child raising literature described the German way of raising children as soulless and authoritarian. Swedish authorities and NGOs represented a country that had not parted in the war in any way, and therefore considered itself experts within the field of how to establish a democratic society. In this paper we will take a closer look at how this was realized by examining the establishment of children’s homes and apprentice homes in Germany after the war. How Swedish authorities and NGOs executed this task and what the rationale behind the undertaking of this mission was, will be discussed.
Cosmopolitanism, citizenship and a ‘new spirit of freedom’ in the education of the adolescent in 1930s Australia
Julie MC LEOD, University of Melbourne, Australia
‘Is modern education succeeding from the point of view of character, knowledge and social responsibility?’ asked teacher Miss H. Daniell (MA) in The Australian Educational Quarterly in 1930. She responded by describing some of the changes associated with the modern form of education, noting the emergence of a ‘new spirit of freedom’ and a feeling of ‘international brotherhood’. This paper examines debates in Australia about the purposes of schooling for adolescents in the interwar years, specifically addressing the teaching of civics and education for ‘world-mindedness’ (Hoy 1934). An internationalist outlook pervaded many educational discussions during this period. The aftermath of the Great War prompted extensive debate about how schools could promote peace and greater world understanding. At the same time, Australian educators were caught up in the traffic of ideas between the US, the UK and Europe regarding New Education and Progressive Education, alongside the growing interest in psychological measurement and testing. The activities of the Australian Council for Educational Research [ACER} during this period were central to the promotion of these different strands of ideas. ACER itself was established in the early 1930s with money from US philanthropy – the Carnegie Corporation of New York – suggesting the extent of transnational flows and their significance for the development of Australian education during this time. Drawing on genealogical approaches and debates about cosmopolitan citizenship (Foucault 1984; Sobe 2009), this paper juxtaposes the discourses and concerns of two international education conferences on the purpose and possibilities of education held in the late 1930s; both events were embedded in discourses of internationalism and responding to imperatives to forge a new type of adolescent and a new kind of national and transnational identity, yet they represented highly differentiated norms and understandings of the educability of the adolescent and of the imagined future citizen. The two conferences are: Education in Pacific Countries (Keesing 1938; referred to also as the Education of Native Races in Pacific Countries, Elkin 1936). This five-week seminar-conference held in Honolulu during July and August 1936, was organized by the Universities of Hawaii and Yale, convened by Professor Felix Keesing (University of Hawaii), and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Participants included prominent Australian anthropologists speaking on the education of Aboriginal children and teenagers. The second conference is The Fellowship of Education: Education for Complete Living, a meeting of international education experts that traveled throughout the Australian states between August and September 1937; it was organized by the New Education Fellowship (UK) in conjunction with ACER, and with substantial funding and support also from Carnegie Corporation of New York. The paper explores the ‘traveling concepts’ underpinning these conferences and their translation in Australian contexts. It examines the gendered and racialised dimensions of constructions of a self-consciously new kind of adolescent and the competing discourses of world-mindedness and localism that framed understandings of their differentiated futures.
The Vanishing Hitchhiker: Space, Mobility and Travel Narratives from Hippy Generation
Linda MAHOOD, University of Guelph, Canada
According to folklorists unlike other literary ghost stories, collective folklore and urban legends, vanishing hitchhiker tales were the product of modernity. They could only flourish in a culture that saw nothing strange in the use of automobiles for travel or the casual intimacy between strangers which hitchhiking implies. In the summer of 1971 the press created a panic by predicting that 400,000 penniless hippies and young people were planning to hitchhike across the North America, Europe and Asia. This paper draws upon government reports, journalistic exposes and oral history narratives by 50 men and women who traveled by hitchhiking and hostelling in the early 1970s. It is concluded that by the late 1970s the media romance with freedom and auto-mobility (hitchhiking) had cooled off, as the press linked hitchhiking to accidents, robbery, crime, rape, abduction and murder. By tracing the codes and conventions which mix hitchhiking narratives with elements of the ghostly vanishing hitchhiker motif, one can explore the sexual and moral danger where teenage bodies are both the currently and at stake. We can see the process by which bodies, mobilities, spaces and youth travel and tourism were constructed in the 1970s as a geography of fear, intended to control and contain the youth movement and rebellion.
National, International or Transnational? Constructions of femininity in the Chalet School books 1925-1952
Stephanie SPENCER, University of Winchester, United Kingdom; Nancy ROSOFF, Rutgers University-Camden, USA
The Chalet School books written by Elinor Brent-Dyer offer a valuable case study which tests our understandings of what it meant to be national, international, and/or transnational growing up in the two decades following the First World War. These works of fiction were widely read at the time of publication and have been reprinted until the present day in several languages. They provide rich source material within which intersections of social class and gender inform the construction of an adolescent international or transnational femininity that simultaneously draws upon and strengthens recognizable national characteristics. In this paper we focus on selections drawn from the first twenty six books in the series (published between1925-1952) to reflect on how the unexpected events of the 1920s, 30s and 40s were incorporated into fictions that educated young girls into a mindset of international co-operation at a time of immense social and political change. The original location of the Chalet School series for girls was beside the Tiernsee in Austria, somewhere near Innsbruck. Elinor Brent-Dyer’s cast of characters included pupils from the USA, Austria, Italy, Germany, France, and England as well as the imaginary Belsornia. Austria was originally chosen by the school’s first headmistress both because of its cheaper cost of living and for the healthy properties of the mountain air. The school was modelled on an English boarding school but with internationalist overtones, including the Kaffee and Kuchen break in the Speisshaal between morning lessons. It quickly filled with girls from a variety of national backgrounds and Brent-Dyer picked the best and worst of English schoolgirl behaviour as topics for the various stories. The headmistress was strict about the use of slang, insisting on proper English to ensure clear communication between the girls. As war threatened Europe, Brent-Dyer was forced to re-think the location of the school and, in the course of the next fifteen books, it moved first to Guernsey then to Herefordshire for the remainder of the war, before returning to the Alps but to Switzerland, rather than Austria. The young reader was left in no doubt as to the wider benefits of international co-operation, most poignantly in the swearing of allegiance to the Chalet School Peace League whose aims bore a striking resemblance to adult organizations such as the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the International Federation of University Women. The paper is situated within the literary/ historical analysis of school fiction originally established by Mary Cadogan and Patricia Craig and substantially developed by Rosemary Auchmuty. In terms of feminist historiography of international co-operation our discussion draws on work by Leila Rupp and most recently by Joyce Goodman. Theoretical framings of the nature of the transnational by Ann Curthoys and Marilyn Lake enable us to engage with feminist geographies of place and space articulated by Linda McDowell in order to explore the educative nature of much read but under theorized sources.
Jeudi / Thursday 8:30 - 10:30 Room: 4193
1.2. L'éducation coloniale constructrice de hiérarchies sociales / Colonial Education and the construction of social hierarchies
Chair: Iveta KESTERE
Pedagogical paradox: Education and Internationalization in the Mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia (Iraq)
Hilary FALB, University of California Berkeley, U.S.A
My paper examines education in the British Mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia in order to address the following questions: when do colonial educational policies become truly international, how and why? Investigating the local context of colonial style education, I find that similar policies implemented in Palestine and Mesopotamia achieved very different results. I argue that in Palestine, British standards were de-nationalized, whereas in Mesopotamia (Iraq) the educated population admired a palimpsest of local and global educational tactics. Those who attended the Mandate’s “Government” or public schools in Palestine accepted and even revered the education they received, whereas greater exposure to a wider variety of educational methods in the Mandate for Mesopotamia led to a more hybrid educational approach. Accepting British pedagogical styles and norms as legitimate tended to de-nationalize those standards, rendering them international, and particularly for those Palestinians who excelled in these schools, universally valid and applicable. By contrast, in Mesopotamia, some supposedly “British” educational methods were accepted piecemeal, alongside textbooks and educational activities the British viewed as distinct from if not hostile to their own type of education. After World War I, the British and the French divided up conquered Ottoman lands into Mandates; a temporary form of government meant to ease the transition from empire to nation. Education was essential to the Mandatory project of internationalizing Western European political, intellectual and social norms. Mandatory Departments of Education subsidized and controlled “Government Schools,” which they claimed would promote citizenship and development. The Mandatory governments sought to impose, often forcefully, tactics of British pedagogy and politics meant to serve exclusively British strategic interests. Mandate inhabitants rejected British policies as imperialist and repressive. However, the overwhelming majority of the staff, administrators, teachers and students in Government Schools were Arab. Those Palestinians who taught at, attended, and excelled at these schools accepted, internalized, and internationalized British pedagogical conventions, later promoting British generalist education, and many of its elitist tendencies throughout the region. By contrast, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia did not view British education as a cohesive whole. Rather, they adopted certain tactics the British claimed as their own, while simultaneously incorporating Ottoman, French, American and (to the great dismay of the British) German tactics. The legacy of Ottoman military schooling in Iraq and the prominence of its army, contributed to a more militaristic and specialist education even in civilian Government schools, however the end result was a varied, and as I argue, fundamentally international style of schooling.
To demonstrate how and why the citizens of these two Mandates responded so differently to similar policies, I will compare and contrast Mandate government documents, reports to the LoN and syllabi with the actions of local educators and students. By taking seriously the way in which colonial educational policies were framed by the British but implemented by Middle Eastern actors with their own agendas, my paper will highlight the importance of local desires in contributing to, or rejecting, the internationalization of educational standards.
The Place of Western Education in Revolutionizing the Nigeria Political History 1842-1960
Eunice Modupeola OYETADE, Michael Otedola College of Primary Education, Lagos State, Nigeria; Moses Sunday JAYEOLA-OMOYENI (Ph.D), Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo State, Nigeria
It is often said by most Nigerians that Western Education provided by the Christian Missionaries was nothing but to produce Nigerians who were to be servants, laundrers, lay readers in the churches, cooks, stewards, interpreters, gardeners etc, to and for the Europeans. Many Nigerians had not seen any good outcome in the Western Education legacy. The political history of Nigeria is however a complex one. Not many authors or historians had really discussed about the relationship of Western Education in the making of Nigeria. Before the British interest and occupation of the various groups in the 19th and 20th centuries, what is now known as Nigeria was a conglomen of different ethnic divisions of diverse cultures, religions, and traditional political organizations. The introduction of Western Education by the European Christian Missionaries in 1842, and the establishment of primary and secondary schools and a University College up to the period of independence in 1960, brought about amazing development and changes especially in the political situation of Nigeria which had not received adequate attention by most writers of Nigeria History. Although, there were many factors that led to the occupation and colonization of Nigeria, in the 20th century, Western Education probably accounted for more than sixty percent of the factors. It is on record that prior to the occupation of the different ethnic groups, the uneducated people who had no weapons of wars, militarily resisted the incursion of the Europeans who had guns and ammunitions to defend themselves. As more primary and secondary schools were opened, more people benefited in the acquisition of Western Education which enabled the educated Nigerians to focus attention on innovative concepts and to demand for political changes that led to independence without any recourse to war of independence. This article showcases the influence of Western education on the political map of Nigeria as a nation. Internalizing western education, the educated people came to know about political freedom and demanded for independence which was granted by the colonialist in 1960. The paper in addition, discusses the feeling of Lord Lugard (the Governor General of Nigeria) to the educated few according to Perman (1960) at the time he (Lugard) amalgamated the northern and southern protectorates in 1914. As more people were educated more and new innovations were instilled in the existing order. The educated people were conscious of their political likening, hatred and thus pre-occupied themselves with political changes that came up as many times as possible under the constitutional changes from 1922 and consequently led the independence in 1960. As a means to change, Western Education became very important tool to meet the urgent demands for changes in political and economic issues. Many differences in educational view point in Nigeria have arisen because of the changes that have occurred within man and society through education. It is doubtful if political could independence have been possible in 1960 without Western education whose foundation was laid in 1842 in Nigeria.
Apprendre le racisme. Les «races» dans l'enseignement primaire en Italie et en Europe dans la première partie du XXe siècle
Gianluca GABRIELLI, Université de Macerata, Italie
Dans les dernières années du XIXe siècle – années du « Scramble for Africa »–, les théories racistes et les disciplines anthropologiques qui étudient les populations de l'Afrique et de l'Asie atteignent un haut degré de développement. Leur but explicite est de connaître et faire connaître les populations conquises et leur potentiel, mais leur but implicite est de légitimer l'expansion coloniale et la subordination des populations locales des empires. L'école ne reste pas exclue de ce processus. Ainsi, au cours des années suivantes, la traduction simplifiée de ces «théories scientifiques» entre dans les programmes d'étude et dans les manuels européens de tous les niveaux éducatifs, en particulier dans les pages consacrées à la géographie. Dans celles-ci, l'image anthropologique et «raciale» de l'Autre est classée, décrite, commentée selon des critères anthropologiques; l'image de soi - de l’européen, du français, de l’italien, de l’anglais - est opposée à cette image de l'Autre. Les représentations des peuples colonisés sont exprimées avec des dessins ou des photographies «typologiques», qui rappellent beaucoup les clichés anthropométriques de la police. Leur arrangement et disposition rappelle les hiérarchies implicites entre les différents peuples, les mots utilisés pour les descriptions sont imprégnés de l'ethnocentrisme raciste. Dans ces descriptions écrites et ces représentations visuelles, l’infériorité de l’un et la supériorité de l’autre sont les deux faces d'une même médaille. Ainsi, à travers l'enseignement de ces matières à l'école, non seulement la légitimation de la domination coloniale est atteinte, mais le processus de nationalisation des masses que connaissent les sociétés européennes à cette époque se poursuit également. L'identité nationale européenne émerge ici en contraste avec la description de ce qui n'est pas national, c'est-à-dire, avec la description scolaire des sauvages, des barbares ou, encore, des des sujets fidèles, qui sont toutes les figures qui représentent et incarnant quelque chose d'étranger à la nation. L'étude porte sur les livres de l'école primaire, le degré de l'école visant la formation d’une culture générale de la population, et pas finalisé spécifiquement pour les classes dirigeantes. L'essai concerne principalement le cas de l'Italie dans la première moitié du XXe siècle, sur l'arrière-plan de la politique éducative des autres puissances européennes. Cela permet de suivre la «construction scolaire» des caractéristiques anthropologiques et culturelles des peuples soumis dans les colonies. En parallèle, dans ce même processus, nous verrons comme il était basé le sens de supériorité de l'étudiant métropolitain, identifié avec le colon. On a choisi cette période particulière, 1900-1950, afin de comprendre l'apogée coloniale et impériale de l'idéologie coloniale italienne, qui correspond à l'invasion de l'Éthiopie en 1935-36 et à l'approbation des lois racistes dans la colonie en 1937 et dans la région métropolitaine en 1938. Pour mieux comprendre et distinguer le racisme commun à la culture européenne de la période en question du racisme contingent lié à l'histoire coloniale et culturelle italienne, nous avons comparé le cas italien au cas français, basant l'analyse de ce dernier sur la littérature secondaire et sur une enquête sur quelques-uns des livres de texte de géographie.
When surrounded by the English, surrendering is no longer an option: The “new” American Indian Child: bilingual and bicultural
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