Educational sciences,morality and politics: international educational congresses in the early twentieth century

Internationalism became one of the keywords in the international intellectual and political debates at the end of the nineteenth century. As a political, cultural and social movement it also included science and education. The desire for international cooperation and global understanding was caused by the growing economic interdependence in the world and the threat to peace by nationalistic politics of the imperialistic powers. Within the context of discipline formation and fragmentation, cultural critique, social reform and pacifist movements, academic educationists, teachers and educational and social reformers in various countries tried to establish an international network to promote scientific cooperation, peace, mutual understanding and professional collaboration. In this article, the author will try to place the phenomenon of internationalism within the context of the formation of educational sciences in the early twentieth century. Drawing from the example of other scientific disciplines at this time, such as geography, meteorology and physics, one can assume that the internationalizing of education also increased its professional and scientific standards. The “disciplinarization process”1 Whereas this term is used by Hofstetter and Schneuwly, Van Gorp, Depaepe, and Simon prefer the notion “discipline‐formation process”. See Rita Hofstetter, “The Construction of a New Science by Means of an Institute and Its Communication Media. The Institute of Educational Sciences in Geneva (1912–1948)”, and Angelo Van Gorp, Marc Depaepe & Frank Simon, “Backing the Actor as Agent in Discipline Formation: An Example of the ‘Secondary Disciplinarisation’ of the Educational Sciences, Based on the Networks of Ovide Decroly (1901–1931)”, both in this issue. of educational sciences was closely intertwined with the genesis of an international scientific network through special institutions. In order to investigate this assumption, the genesis, structure, contents and effects of international cooperation in the field of education in the first decades of the twentieth century will be considered. This international cooperation took on different shapes. It included, among others, the international exchange of teachers and students, international educational exhibitions, international congresses, transnational institutions, multilateral standardization and international journals. The focus will be on the main agents of institutionalized internationalization, namely international congresses and associations, and individual forms of international communication and cooperation will therefore not be dealt with. The article begins with a short overview of the different kinds of international educational congresses. Two types of internationalization within this institutional setting will then be introduced: the research‐oriented, “scientifically” based model of academic educationists (“new educational sciences”) and the instruction and reform‐oriented, “politically and morally” based model of a social movement (New Education). Finally the geographical extension of internationalization will be analyzed briefly before the main argument is set out in the concluding remarks, namely that the internationalization of education through international institutions found its driving force in moral and political assumptions of the teaching profession and its goals of school reform within the New Education rather than in an international scientific paradigm of the academic “new educational sciences”.     

Ecumenism,economic necessity and the disappearance of Methodist elementary schools in England in the twentieth century

This study aims to define the extent of, and causes for, the decline of the Wesleyan educational effort in England in the twentieth century. In 1902 the Church had 738 schools, but these rapidly declined throughout the century, with only 28 remaining in 1996. The establishment of these schools during the nineteenth century had been largely for the protection of Wesleyan children, with a denominational mistrust of the proselytism in both Anglicanism and Roman Catholic institutions. This study aims to show how far this mistrust continued into the twentieth century and estimates the influence of growing ecumenism on the Church’s decision to allow its own elementary schools to disappear. Nevertheless, this is an important subject, reflecting the declining influence of all churches on wider society in the twentieth century, as well as the increasing need to form church alliances to counter growing secularism in a post‐Christian era.     

20世纪中叶美国对泰国的政治介入

20世纪中叶,出于冷战格局的需要以及对泰国军人独裁统治的不安,美国积极介入泰国政治生活,极力帮助泰国军人集团组建政党筹备大选,对其进行军事保护和经济援助.与此同时,泰国奉行一边倒的亲美政策,成为美国在东南亚地区的桥头堡和马前卒.至此,泰国军人集团的执政地位得以合法化,美国在该地区的影响力进一步扩大,亚洲紧张局势持续升级.     

Sex Education Materials in The Netherlands and in England and Wales: A comparison of content,use and teaching practice

Sex education in The Netherlands and in the UK [1] has attracted attention because of the huge differences between the teenage pregnancy rates. There are substantial similarities in the way in which sex education is structured in the two countries, and yet the approach to the subject is very different. We used documentary sources and interviews to explore the political debates; compared both science and PSE texts aimed at 14-15- year-olds; and carried out exploratory field work in three secondary schools in each country. While sex education is controversial in both countries, the British debate is adversarial and the Dutch strive to seek consensus, making use of professional sex educators in the process. The difference in approach is reflected in both the sex education materials and the approach taken in the classroom. We conclude that the Dutch are significantly more successful in addressing the problem of ignorance and of promoting a coherent sex education message.     

A key leadership issue of the twenty-first century: Religion in schools in England,Wales and the Republic of Ireland

This article argues that engagement with religion is a key challenge for all leaders of schools in twenty-first-century multifaith societies. It outlines the historic and current context of the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and national and European policies that prioritise community cohesion in education. The functional and substantive roles of religion are considered as reflected in education, where they adjudicate power and shape values and behaviours. The article analyses data from nine schools in England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland to provide a snapshot of a range of leaders’ philosophies, policies and practice in relation to religion. The preferential attention and resources given to the dominant community are evident in some cases. It is argued that, irrespective of whether a school is affiliated to a specific religion or not, school leaders have some freedom in positioning religion. Their influence significantly shapes how religion and/or secular values are understood and enacted. The article concludes by suggesting that policy at national and European level that emphasises shared identities and community cohesion masks the differential power and struggles between communities that cannot be resolved by anodyne exhortation. Rather, leaders need to be selected, trained and supported to recognise the centrality of belief in the lives of many of their learners and their families and to engage with the inevitability of ongoing disagreement and struggle.     

'Poisoned history': a comparative study of nationalism,propaganda and the treatment of war and peace in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century school curriculum

This paper investigates the educational philosophy and practices of Achimota School, which was established in the Gold Coast Colony (the southern part of today’s Ghana) in 1927 as the governmental model school for leadership education. Achimota’s education aimed to develop leaders who were ‘Western in intellectual attitude’, ‘African in sympathy’. To fulfil this objective, Achimota attempted to develop a curriculum that took into account the sociocultural background of African students while trying to provide an education on a par with that available at English public schools. The paper first examines the discourse surrounding the establishment of a model secondary school for African leadership, which involved diverse groups of people – colonial officials, missionaries, European educationists, traditional chiefs and African nationalists – and then reviews the relevant educational philosophies of the twentieth century. Finally, the paper describes the Achimota education as experienced by students, a mixed product of English public school tradition and ‘African tradition’. Regardless of the efforts to balance the two ‘traditions’, what was actually created was a new Achimota culture that selected essences from different ‘traditions’ and remoulded them for a novel purpose.     

Pre‐twentieth century literature in the Year 9 classroom: Student responses to different teaching approaches

This article arises from an action research investigation that sought to understand the ways in which different approaches to teaching pre‐twentieth century literature in Year 9 English lessons might influence students’ experiences of texts. It examines the proposition that some students need to have a secure understanding of the text before they can benefit from more creative approaches which require them to undertake independent and personal responses. Although creative methods of teaching are often posited as being superior to more teacher‐led approaches, student responses suggest that requiring them to participate in creative activities as a means of exploring an unfamiliar text without first ensuring they have a solid understanding of the overarching narrative and a good grasp of unknown language can lead to resistance and disengagement. In this case study, some students benefited from and appreciated a structured approach that included more ‘traditional’ methods of teaching pre‐twentieth century literature, which they said helped them to learn more effectively.     

Edinburgh University,schools and the civil service in the early twentieth century

This article is a case study of the relation between urban schooling and university education, using two main sources. Data on the schools attended by history students at Edinburgh University between 1899 and 1933 illustrate the diversity and social ranking of schools in the city. New higher grade schools had a key role in increasing access to university education for both men and women, especially for prospective teachers; the significance of the Education (Scotland) Act of 1918 for Catholic schools, and the continuing importance of small private schools for girls, are also shown. The second source analyses the school origins of successful Edinburgh candidates in civil service examinations between 1896 and 1944, supplemented for other parts of Scotland by the report of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service of 1912. This elite career drew mainly from older schools, and contemporary claims for equality of opportunity in Scotland need to be treated with reserve.     

Student movements and politics in Latin America: a historical reconceptualization

Higher Education - Student movements have played a significant political role in the history of Latin America. Since the beginning of the 20th century until now, students have transformed their...     

Higher education and UK elite formation in the twentieth century

This study examines the proposition that mass higher education is, in practice, less a network of more or less homogeneous activities than a series of concentric circles in which elite institutions remain at the centre, but are surrounded by increasingly wide bands of universities and colleges, that are less and less likely to set graduates on the road to elite status the further they are from the centre. After a brief review of the classical and subsequent literature on elites and elite formation, the empirical study uses data from the very long established annual publication Who’s Who to make a quantitative analysis of the higher education background of all 120,000 Who’s Who entries born in the twentieth century. It finds that Oxford and Cambridge remained the dominant route to elite status throughout the century, though their share fell from about a third to about a quarter of the total. There were big rises in the contribution of other leading universities that have come to be known as the ‘Russell Group’. An analysis by main occupational categories shows that the political elite broadened its educational catchment area more than other groups. The so-called ‘public’ (i.e. independent) secondary schools also continued to make contributions much larger than their numbers warrant. The main conclusions are that Bourdieu’s notion of ‘symbolic capital’ offers a useful contribution to the interpretation of the continued dominance of well-known high status universities, and that while there was considerable change throughout the century, in general it followed the British tradition of being evolutionary and slow. In policy terms it concluded that the present government is justified in seeking both to widen participation generally and simultaneously to increase the number of people from modest economic and social backgrounds who attend the high prestige universities.     

Universities,medical education and women: Birmingham in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Examining the evolution of medical education for women in a major city, this paper details the combination of private and public initiative, and the role of nonconformist denominational networks in Birmingham, one of the largest industrial and commercial centres of the British Empire. From the 1880s women gradually gained access to both higher education and professional training in medicine. This was necessarily underpinned by the growth of school science for girls. In this, the role of the new endowed and proprietary schools for girls was very significant in Birmingham but that of the School Board and LEA was also important, not least in demonstrating class and gendered attitudes in education and medicine. In theory from the 1880s and 1890s it was possible even for girls from elementary schools to proceed by way of scholarship both to secondary school and to university. Such educational opportunities expanded in early twentieth-century Birmingham yet always remained slimmer for girls. From 1900 the new university ostensibly gave equal rights to women in medical education as in all other studies. The university itself had grown out of local interests and patronage and saw itself as serving the local community. Birmingham’s liberal leaders believed in scientific education and social reform, including greater equality between the sexes, although contemporary cultural and social currents could militate against such high aspirations. Nevertheless, the university did take a lead in opening up medicine to women, allowing participation in professional life, for some at the highest levels, and serving the local city and regional community.     

Educating Immigrants in the Netherlands: Migration flows and educational policy in the twentieth century

The first part of this article describes some general tendencies in migrant and school populations in Western Europe. Then it focusses upon some specific migration flows in the Netherlands in the twentieth century. A distinction is made between three migration parameters: colonies, labour force, and asylum. The second part of this article discusses the policy initiatives taken to educate the different migrant groups and their offspring. A distinction can be made between the first 70 years of the twentieth century and the remaining decades. In the first part of the century the education of immigrants was in the hands of private initiatives set up by churches, welfare institutions, migrant organisations, and employers. Later the Dutch government became a major player.