Order through the Gaze: A Comparative Perspective of the Construction of Visibility in Monitorial Schooling (German States – Spain, Approx. 1815-1848)

Abstract

Visibility of bodies and actions in the classroom is a major feature of modern schooling as a disciplinary institution. The mere fact that children attended elementary schools in early modern times did not mean that effective work took place. Old techniques of schooling were challenged by new proposals at the beginning of the 19th century. Among them, monitorial schooling represented a crucial movement towards an increased standardisation of educational practices and institutions. This British model of schooling was based on a strict routine in the classroom, carried out by numerous children in the role of helpers, also called monitors. In this system of teaching, a hierarchical structure of monitors guaranteed continuous activity of a well-ordered mass of pupils. The worldwide spread of monitorial schooling was a first attempt to extend a disciplined daily life into the classrooms before group teaching techniques took the forefront. Evidently, the challenge of teaching 200-300 pupils in a room made demands on control and surveillance, in order to interrupt possible alliances between children. This contribution describes different versions of the control of big groups of children through visibility in German and Spanish schools. In both contexts, educationalists and schoolteachers reformed many aspects of the “British” system, which foresaw “pyramidal” structure of gazes. In the German states, a general concern about the position of the teacher arose. Germans criticised the teaching role of monitors and reinforced the role of the adult’s gaze in ordering the classroom. In the Spanish case, educationists started copying the English original, but they reinforced later the stability of authority by giving a more substantive role to the "intermediate" gazes of the general monitors. Both developments are traced back to prevailing notions of teaching in each context. The different paths of reception and interpretation of this highly codified system of teaching display the existence of different “cultures of discipline”.