Taking Froebel abroad. Transnational travel by Froebelian teachers in the 1910s and 2010s: India and South Africa

Abstract

In 1900, London infant school head teacher and Froebelian, Lucy R. Latter, travelled to southern India to introduce kindergarten pedagogy to schools in Mysore. A hundred years later Froebelians continue to implement projects in very different environments from kindergarten’s European roots, including Soweto, South Africa and Kolkata, India. This article raises question about the introduction of kindergarten into these different cultural contexts. Why was it thought that kindergarten pedagogy would benefit the children of Mysore and Soweto? What practices did they seek to introduce and what adaptations were needed to meet local conditions? Did they encounter resistance as they sought to introduce methods which differed from conventional practice? The draws on Gramsci’s conception of cultural hegemony, with the possibilities for the assertion of Western values to the denigration of local traditions and customs through educational systems. In previously colonised states, such initiatives may be seen as attempts to reassert the values of former power holders. The article adopts a transnational perspective and also builds on research which interrogated Froebelian motivations for introducing a middle-class pedagogy into working class communities in Britain.