Early Childhood Education

Abstract

As a historian of early childhood education in German-speaking Europe, I am struck by the outstanding role that Friedrich Froebel, or rather his ideas, played in all the countries described in the six essays. This is not really new since even the first historiographic articles in German-speaking countries already pointed out Froebel's role internationally. The worldwide spread of Froebel's educational teachings remains the subject of German research to this day. And yet it is still so remarkable to see how Froebel's philosophy of education—which had its origins in the spirit of romanticism and which seems strange even to German audiences—has succeeded in establishing itself in different cultures and for different reasons. Just think of Italy in the second half of the nineteenth century (James C. Albisetti), of post-revolutionary Russia ruled by the Bolsheviks (Yordanka Valkanova), of Great Britain, France, and the United States. Even in Asian countries we can find evidence of Froebel's influence, for example, in Korea and in Japan (on Japan, Kathleen Uno). In spite of the differences between these countries and their cultures, Froebel's pedagogy has succeeded in playing an influential role in all of them. Extant institutions for the care and education of preschool children developed into modern kindergartens under the influence of Froebel's teachings. In the end it was always about making it possible for young children to learn and, at the same time, taking into account the very special way learning occurs in these early years as an active, action-based and almost effortless kind of learning. Froebel found an answer to this problem. With his gifts he gave the answer in a simple and yet brilliant manner which was, despite its origins in German idealism, apparently unrelated to culture.