Working for Change Across International Borders: the Association of Headmistresses and Education for International Citizenship1

Abstract

This article contributes to the retrieval of the ‘lost history’ of interwar internationalism that is increasingly receiving attention from historians of education.2 It traces the involvement of the English Association of Headmistresses (AHM) in a range of organizations that networked women educationists with women’s organizations, with educational organizations and with international organizations working towards international peace in the interwar period. The focus of the paper is the development of an international orientation in the AHM and in girls’ secondary schools through association with, and interest in, the League of Nations. Its subject matter is citizenship: the citizenship practised via the professional engagement of headmistresses through the AHM and as individuals with ideals of international understanding; and the development of an internationally oriented secondary school curriculum for girls and, in particular, the development of a history curriculum for ‘world citizenship’. Both are discussed in relation to the version of the ‘international’ that arose in the League of Nations in the aftermath of the First World War to adjudicate and resolve conflicts between nations. This was linked to a view of discrete nation‐states in a period when the borders and boundaries between nation‐states in Europe were shifting. The article adopts a transnational methodology to investigate the ‘international’ and ways in which national and transnational flows were transversed by longer‐standing colonial relations. The article begins by discussing the increasing involvement of women educationists in transnational flows of teachers, promoted initially by the AHM’s engagement with aspects of British imperial mission. It traces ways in which the Association’s increasingly internationalist orientation ran alongside and was linked to older concerns about empire but also fostered much interest in League of Nations activities and curriculum development around citizenship education for girls. This section of the article looks ‘outward’ from the AHM towards the League of Nations and the women’s organizations associated with the League. It analyses three issues that weave through the AHM’s dealings with the League of Nations: representation; disarmament and world peace; and citizenship. It moves to look ‘inward’ from the AHM to schools by examining these issues at the level of the local and the national, within the global development of international ideas and movements, through League of Nations activities at Manchester High School for Girls. 1 Thanks to Dr Joy of Manchester High School for her help with archival research. 2 Lawn, M. “Reflecting the Passion: Mid‐century Projects for Education.” History of Education 33, no. 3 (2004): 512; Nóvoa, A., and M. Lawn. Fabricating Europe: The Making of an Educational Space. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2002; Watkins, C. “Inventing International Citizenship: Badminton School and the Progressive Tradition between the Wars.” History of Education . Available from http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/0046760X.asp ; Lawn, M. “Circulations and Exchanges: Emergence of Scientific Cosmopolitanism in Educational Research.” Paper presented at the Congress of Historical Sciences (CISH), Sydney, 2005; Fuchs, E. “Towards Global Educational Politics: The role of Transnational Educational Organizations in the Twentieth Century.” Paper presented at the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE), Sydney, 2005; Rogers, R. “Questioning National Models: The History of Women Teachers in a Comparative Perspective.” Paper presented at the International Federation for Research in Women’s History (IFRWH), Sydney, 2005.