Progressive Education

This study draws from histories of “educationalisation” and neo-Foucaultian histories of English teaching in an archival analysis that revisits landmark pedagogical texts that coincided with the rapid expansion of the school subject English in between the 1894 Report of the Committee of Ten and 1918 Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education. The archival analysis considers these two reform documents along with the first comprehensive books on English teaching, which were published between the 1890s and 1920s. The study’s analysis adopts a selective focus on their explicit aims and rationales for teaching English, particularly in secondary schools, and the pedagogic logics and practices by which English was imagined as a governmental response to various social problems. This archival work recovers the largely overlooked ways in which the teaching of English was positioned to improve the moral and social condition of the population, to develop youths’ capacities for self-governance, to professionalise teaching through the psychological sciences, and to include “problem” populations within the corrective spaces of the English classroom. It also illustrates how distinctive approaches to teaching English language and literature were understood to attune youths’ “souls” to a range of governmental norms. This study bridges ideas from two historical literatures in order to unearth “educationalisation” problematics and “governmental” practices that traditional histories of English teaching have largely obscured, particularly in the United States.

Jory Brass (2016): English teaching and the educationalisation
of social problems in the United States, 1894–1918, Paedagogica Historica, DOI:
10.1080/00309230.2016.1151056. Available for free download at this link: share online access to your article with up to 50 colleagues by forwarding this eprint link http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/qRsJzCjhftKhJNxutZvv/full

This text investigates the intellectual legacy of "Hand and Eye Work", the first art-based curriculum officially introduced by the Gold Coast colonial government through the Educational Code of 1887. With a nod to Foucault's archaeological and genealogical methods, the text explores the Pestalozzian-Fröbelian diaspora of technical, manual and vocational training schemes including the German Gewerbeschule, the Scandinavian Slöjd system, the French metiers and the British Somerset House-South Kensington "manual training" system which inspired the Gold Coast "Hand and Eye" curriculum. The study finds parallels between the manual training curricula, pedagogical models and texts purveyed in America, India and pre-Union South Africa and other nodes of the Victorian Empire. The text argues that the "bread and butter" vocational focus of the Gold Coast colonial scheme displaced the more recondite and progressive features of the Pestalozzian-Fröbelian system which had inspired it. The programme became contrived, mechanistic, and embalmed in a frozen time-capsule. It remained firewalled against contemporaneous challenges cues and potentials extant in the heritage of African visual culture and Modern art alike until G. A. Stevens, a young graduate from the Slade School, and inspired by the Progressive Education movements in Europe became art master in the Government Training College and Achimota College respectively. Echoing his mentor Roger Fry's dictum to "get rid of all that South-Kensington nonsense", Stevens critiqued "Hand and Eye" training thus: "There was, and is, no provision for the training of taste, appreciation, criticism, or for the slightest perception of art history". This was the beginning of a revolution in Gold Coast art education.

As teacher educators, we are committed to the improvement of teacher practices and methods that increase student academic achievement. To this end we are constantly investigating and evaluating practices that get results, often called " best practices. " Since the 1960s when we made a national commitment to the education of all children regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender, we have also been investigating the preconditions necessary for improved academic achievement. We have engaged is a great deal of research investigating non-school preconditions such as poverty, family structures, and English language acquisition. Additionally, we tended to add to these givens or school preconditions such things as school structure, school leadership, and student behavior. The contention that student behavior is a precondition for increased academic achievement has in many respects guided the development of the field of classroom management to this point. The assumption is that when the teacher obtains an acceptable level of control the result will be the order necessary for teaching and in turn learning. It follows then that any methodologies that obtain order will lead to more student achievement.

Evidence found in The New York Times from 1939 to 1945 and corroborating sources are used to demonstrate the impact of the Second World War on the progressive educational movement. We posit that December 7, 1941 initiated the waning of the progressive education movement in the secondary social studies curriculum. Progressive education emphasized a child-centered, experiential curriculum, an issues-centered approach to learning, and a critical analysis of society. Our findings indicate that the educational climate during the Second World War initiated a shift from questioning American institutions to celebrating them. Education became more centralized and many educational organizations were mobilized to support the war effort. Specifically, the secondary social studies curriculum became one of several propaganda vehicles in support of the war. In addition, colleges and universities became training grounds for teachers, defense workers, and soldiers. A war on the home front ensued. The progressive secondary social studies curriculum itself was viewed as placing the nation at risk. While other factors such as the Back-to-Basics movement and the Cold War contributed to the waning of the secondary progressive educational movement, World War Two (WWII) set the decline in motion.

A discussion of Dewey's Democracy and Education, focused on chapter nine, "Natural Development and Social Efficiency as Aims."

Forthcoming in Waks, L. and English, A (eds.): John Dewey's Democracy and Education: A Centennial Handbook (New York: Cambridge University Press)

In order to confront patriarchal values in music education, music educators must know the philosophies of historic women music educators. Music educators' general underestimation of the value of historic women is a critical concern. In this paper, new light is shed on the life of historically underrepresented, but important, female music educator Satis Coleman (1878-1961); exploring her philosophy of music education from the perspective of progressive educational thought. There were two guiding questions: How does Satis Coleman's music education philosophy relate to and diverge from the educational philosophies of John Dewey and Jane Addams? And what does each educator believe about students living the good life and how does education foster this? Nine themes emerged from analysis: social, agency, interest, continuity, interdisciplinarity, nature, inner person, critiques, and the other.

Deel 2 nu gaat wat verder en dieper in op de tegenstelling tussen wat beoogd wordt en wat er gebeurt, tussen de naam en het beestje. Ik doe het aan de hand van een concreet voorbeeld: de zelfbeschrijving van een daltonschool voor basisonderwijs. Het is niet mijn bedoeling om het daltononderwijs in een slecht daglicht te stellen. Ik ben kritisch op een wijdverbreide manier van spreken en doen; het daltononderwijs biedt toegankelijk analyse-materiaal.

Lernen in Projekten hat sich als Unterrichtsverfahren inzwischen in vielen Schulen durchgesetzt. Es gilt als eine unverzichtbare Ergänzung des traditionellen Klassenunterrichts und wird in neueren Richtlinien und Lehrplänen empfohlen. Mit schulischer Projektarbeit werden viele Hoffnungen verbunden. Schülerinnen und Schüler sollen selbständiges Planen, Entscheiden und Organisieren lernen. Sie sollen durch Kooperation Teamfähigkeit und verantwortliches Handeln einüben. Dabei sollen sie Grundformen eines demokratischen Bewusstseins entwickeln. In diesem Buch wird das Projektlernen als eine besondere Methode schulischen und außerschulischen Lernens vorgestellt: Der Begriff Projektlernen wird aus historischer und systematischer Perspektive erklärt. Aktuelle Konzepte des Projektlernens werden vorgestellt und erörtert. Modelle des Projektlernens und Möglichkeiten seiner Durchführung werden präsentiert. Probleme des Projektlernens wie die Themenwahl und die Benotung der Schülerleistungen werden diskutiert. Beispiele durchgeführter Projekte illustrieren die Darstellung.

Kurt Hahn (1886-1974) gehörte als einer der Pioniere der Reformpädagogik und vielseitig begabter Politiker zu den schillernden Persönlichkeiten seiner Zeit. Politischer Berater General Ludendorffs, enger Vertrauter von Reichskanzler Prinz Max von Baden und Außenminister Brockdorff-Rantzau gründete er in den zwanziger Jahren die Internatsschule Salem. Von dort aus entstand eine internationale Erziehungsrepublik, die wohl kaum ihresgleichen hat - mit weltweit bekannten Internaten, mit dem International Award for Young People, den Outward Bound Schools und den United Word Colleges.

This is a Persian translation of Henry Giroux's chapter "Is there a place fo cultural studies in colledges of education?, in Counternarratives: Cultural Studies and Critical Pedagogies in Postmodern Spaces.

Describes the diverse assumptions and practices defined under the banner of cultural studies, suggesting how the field might have important consequences for individuals concerned with reforming schools and colleges of education. The paper addresses how progressive educators might contribute, examining how the field could be included in the larger discourse of social reconstruction.

ترجمه مقاله‌ای از هنری ژیرو درباره اهمیت توجه به یافته‌ها و بینش تولید شده در رشته‌‌های مطالعات فرهنگی برای اصلاح نظام آموزش و پرورش  به عنوان زیربنای دموکراسی بنیادین

Commentaar bij "Reflectie in het daltononderwijs" (2014)

De Nederlandse Daltonvereniging heeft onlangs haar identiteit geherformuleerd. Het klassieke drietal vrijheid, samenwerking en verantwoordelijkheid is aangevuld met twee nieuwe principes. Eén ervan is reflectie. Wat is reflectie en waarom is het zo belangrijk in daltononderwijs? Het boek "Reflectie in het daltononderwijs" (2014) komt als geroepen. Het geeft keurig weer hoe er over reflectie gedacht wordt in en rond het daltononderwijs. In dit opzicht is het een voorbeeldig boek, ook omdat het geschiedenis, praktijk en theorie met elkaar in verband brengt. Het biedt hierdoor een goede springplank voor discussie over reflectie in het daltononderwijs. Zo'n discussie is volgens mij nodig vanwege de eenzijdigheid die uit het boek naar voren komt.

Over deze eenzijdigheid wil ik graag iets kwijt. Dat geeft me ook gelegenheid om op enkele schoonheidsfouten in het boek te wijzen. Deze hebben vooral te maken met de interpretatie en het gebruik van Dewey. Ik leg mijn commentaar nu eerst in deze kring aan de meest betrokkenen voor, voordat ik een deel ervan in ander verband publiceer (verwerkt in een kritisch artikel over het huidige denken over reflectie onder onderwijskundigen: Van der Ploeg 2014). Ik neem het misverstaan van Dewey als kapstok, want ik geloof dat een goed begrip van Dewey vruchtbaar kan zijn voor de discussie. Mijn commentaar heeft voornamelijk betrekking op het derde hoofdstuk, "De effectiviteit van reflectie".

Wat is het Dalton Plan eigen? De vraag kan op minstens twee manieren beantwoord worden. We zouden het Daltononderwijs zoals het zich momenteel in ons land voordoet, in kaart kunnen brengen en vergelijken met ander onderwijs om het op grond hiervan te karakteriseren. De andere manier is terug te gaan naar de basis en de bron: hoe ziet het er oorspronkelijk eigenlijk uit? De onderhavige reconstructie van de oorspronkelijke onderwijspedagogiek is gebaseerd op het theoretische en praktische werk van Parkhurst, met name haar Education on the Dalton Plan uit 1922. Pedagogische, filosofische en didactische tradities en ontwikkelingen voor en na Parkhurst dienen als achtergrond en referentiekader voor interpretatie en herformulering. Anders tot nog toe gebruikelijk is in Nederlandse, Duitse en Engelse teksten over het Daltonplan onderscheiden we (1) filosofische principes, (2) pedagogische doelen, (3) didactische principes, (4) didactische kenmerken en (5) professionele kenmerken.

New insight prompts me to correct a claim I made in my book on the origins and theory of Dalton education. I wrote of the educational philosopher and educational reformer William Heard Kilpatrick, the man connected to the Project Method and student and colleague of John Dewey, that he had "admiration" for Helen Parkhurst ("The Dalton Plan: origins and theory of Dalton education", 2010, p. 16). Further research has revealed this to not be the case. I allowed myself to be misled by Parkhurst.
This is somewhat embarrassing, having warned and criticized others of too readily going by what Helen Parkhurst says about herself and her past and by what her friend Dorothy Luke reports she said and what first the biographer Diana Lager and later the German researcher, Susanne Popp, took from Luke. Parkhurst liked to inflate her own importance (see also my "The Dalton Plan: recycling in the guise of innovation", Paedagogica Historica, 2013). For this reason, we should beware of trusting biographical information that builds forth on Parkhurst’s accounts of herself. Even so, I blindly followed friend Luke and biographer Lager who both speak of a friendly relationship between Kilpatrick and Parkhurst and, indeed, of mutual admiration.
In the latter case, Lager refers to a text of Kilpatrick’s, a text that is nowhere to be found in the Netherlands. It is his contribution to the twenty-fourth yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (published in 1925). Kilpatrick gives a short assessment of individualized education ("An effort at appraisal", 273-286) and discusses the Dalton Plan. Towards the end of last year, in the library of the Teachers College of Columbia University in New York, I finally read the text myself and found the footnote in question to be different to what I expected.
In this same library, I was able to read through Kilpatrick’s diaries. From 1904 to 1961 he made extensive daily notes about his activities and experiences. He recorded everything; seven days a week. In these diaries, I hoped to find the ingredients for a reconstruction of the friendly relationships between Kilpatrick and Parkhurst. That, too, turned out differently than expected.
These small surprises are the chance by-products of a more extensive source study in New York, the preparation for research on the history of the relationship between educational reform, science and philosophy and the social-cultural context in the United States. One of the tentative assumptions yielded by this research, is that we perhaps ought to read Parkhurst in a different light than we have been accustomed to up until now.

Anticipating on future publications, I would like to begin by saying something about Kilpatrick’s footnote, about Kilpatrick’s diaries and about seeing Parkhurst in a different light.

In 2018 there were 193,657 children in state schools classified by their schools as having Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) needs that caused challenging behaviour and below average academic performance.

This paper will explore the idea that mainstream schools are, and will continue to be, blind to the problems inherent in mainstream pedagogical practice in relation to child development and learning so long as those children who do not conform to school behavioural expectations are seen as the problem and labelled as SEMH.

The paper will examine the educational phenomenon of Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) through dual lenses of 1) critical disability theory (CDT) and 2) critical pedagogy.  Using a CDT approach will be illuminating due to the similarities that can be drawn between the disability discourse in wider society and SEN discourse in schools and allow comparisons to be made between the SEND child’s experience in school and experience of disabled people in wider society; both subjects are problematised as subversions from the ‘normal’ citizen or pupil and their difference is medicalised or pathologised in order for them to ‘processed’.  CDT challenges us to look to problematising the environment instead of the person; when this is done, disability is no longer inherent in the person’s impairment but a product of a web of factors including a social environment hostile to that impairment and the disadvantages that can bring the person (Hoskings, 2008).

Middle-class progressives in the early 20th Century wanted to transform a corrupt and chaotic industrial America into an "authentic" democracy. But they were led astray by their privilege. Focused on enhancing the voices of individuals, generations of progressives remained blind to the rich culture of "democratic solidarity" infusing labor unions and organizing in poor communities. This book traces the problematic evolution of progressive democracy in America, focusing on schools as a key site of progressive practice. At the same time, it examines alternative strategies for developing more empowering approaches to democratic education and collective action.

Eigenaarschap is een buzzword in het onderwijs. Intussen is het in de praktijk even problematisch als populair. Het lastigst zijn de paradoxen van eigenaarschap. De paradoxen van eigenaarschap raken kernvragen van de pedagogiek. Ze vormen daarom bruikbare stof voor het oefenen van denken over onderwijs.

The progressive web application combines the best of web and mobile apps. It is a website built using web technologies that acts like an app. Recent advancements in the browser, availability of service workers, Cache and Push APIs have enabled web developers to allow users to install web apps to their home screen, receive push notifications and even work offline. To use a traditional app, the user must install it beforehand which includes multiple clicks making the app unappealing to the user. This problem is solved by using PWA enabled webpage. The user is given the advantage of accessing the webpage app-like by creating a desktop icon which eliminates the need for multiple clicks. The primary characteristic of this progressive web app is that it must work on all devices and must enhance on devices and browsers that allow it. They take advantage of the much larger web ecosystem, plugins and community and the relative ease of deploying and maintaining a website when compared to a native application in the respective app stores.

Em abril de 1942, Carleton W. Washburne (1889-1968), um educador estadunidense, desembarcou na Colômbia. Aquela não era uma viagem qualquer, era o começo de uma missão de estudo sobre a educação sul-americana comissionada pelo Departamento de Estado dos EUA que duraria quatro meses e meio e incluiria no itinerário Equador, Chile, Paraguai e Brasil. Washburne também não era um educador qualquer, era conhecido internacionalmente desde os anos 1920 devido às experiências educacionais que conduziu em Winnetka, Illinois. Além disso, na época da excursão ocupava a presidência da Progressive Education Association (PEA). O presente capítulo toma os escritos de Washburne sobre essa viagem como objeto de estudo com o objetivo de identificar as representações constituídas sobre a educação sul-americana em suas narrativas e explorar as conexões com a política de boa vizinhança que tais escritos, aliados ao contexto da época, permitem abstrair.

The project method, also discussed under headings like project work, project approach, and project-based learning, is one of the standard teaching methods. It is a sub-form of action-centered and student-directed learning and an enterprise in which children engage in practical problem solving for a certain period of time.

The very notion of decriminalizing drugs in modern society can agreeably seem preposterous and absurd at first. The origins and rationale of the author of such a proposition can often understandably warrant suspicion and evaluation from the reader. It is respectfully submitted that the result and implications of such a drastic measure are not sheepishly underestimated. I wish to submit this law reform proposition confident in the knowledge that persistence to continue with the current national drug policy regime will yield far less benefits than that which is necessary to continue to laud the frailties of an alternative solution. The fear and hysteria associated with a decriminalized state greatly mask the beneficial possibilities of adopting a different approach to an ancient problem and unfortunately continue to merit this mandatory caveat.

This paper reconstructs the history of the reception across the Italian Catholic world of the first sex education film ever screened in Italy, the documentary “Helga” (Erich F. Bender, 1967). Most Catholics were initially fearful and skeptical about the film and its pedagogical potential, and condemned in particular the decision by the national censorship board that the film was “suitable for all”. However, as the weeks went on, and while the film surprisingly topped the box office, their position became less hostile, and more and more nuanced, to the point that some Catholic teachers started testing “Helga” with teenage classes on sex education.

The following materials provide a comprehensive understanding of learning style within the school and home context. They can be used as stand alone resources or with the Paragon Learning Style Inventory (PLSI) or the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) or any of the many other 4 dimension Jungian type assessments (4MAT, VARK, Kolb, Keirsey-Bates, etc).

Understanding one's own type and the possible and actual types or learning styles of those one works with, teaches, parents or coaches is essential to truly appreciating the gifts that each member brings to the class, home, committee or school. And encourages more effective practice, less needless conflict, and an environment that encourages a focus on strengths and growth. Research has shown that teachers and parents who make the effort to intentionally understand their own learning style and that of those with whom they care for and teach are more successful. More materials can be found at:

The International Handbook of Progressive Education engages contemporary debates about the purpose of education, presenting diverse ideas
developed within a broadly conceived progressive education movement. It calls for a more critical and dynamic conception of education goals
as a necessary element of a healthy society. The scope is global, with contributing authors and examples from around the world. The sweep
includes past, present, and future. Even for those who lament its failures, progressive education still seems to be asking the right questions.
There is a vision, the progressive impulse, which goes beyond educational practice per se to include inquiry into a conception of the good
life for both individuals and society. Because progressivists tend to dispute the status quo and the extent to which it nurtures that good life,
there is an underlying critical edge to progressive thinking, one that has sharpened in recent progressive education discourse. The handbook’s
inquiry into progressive education starts with a number of intriguing and difficult questions: How has progressive education fared in different
contexts? How do progressive methods relate to ideas of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching?
And do they «work»? If progressive education offers an important alternative, why has it often been ignored, abandoned, or suppressed? What
is the relevance of its tenets, methods, and questions in the new information age and in a world facing global changes in environment, politics,
religion, language, and every other aspect of society?

Education has lost its soul.  The idealism of the 70s was crushed upon the rocks of the back-to-the-basics movement of the 80s. In today’s hyper-testing environment, there is little room for real learning, creativity, innovation, passion, and curiosity.  Today, education today is more about what we do to students than what students do.  Adopting a humanistic approach to education is one way to find our way back.

En esta investigación analizamos cómo se transformaron los vetustos Asilos para pobres de El Pardo en el modélico Orfanato Nacional de El Pardo. Para ello, estudiamos la trayectoria de la institución hasta 1931, fecha en que el Ministerio de la Gobernación se hace cargo de la institución y nombra el Patronato, compuesto por Manuel García Morente, Luis Calandre Ibáñez y Juan de Selgas y Marín, cuya labor es objeto de este estudio. Exponemos las acciones realizadas por el Patronato en la mejora de las condiciones de los acogidos, y en la mejor organización del centro: Reglamento, Escuelas graduadas y organización del internado. Además, hacemos un repaso a las biografías del conjunto de profesionales, vocales del Patronato y maestros, que intervieron en esta experiencia pedagógica. Por otra parte, situamos la trayectoria de la institución en el ambiente de la Escuela Nueva, tanto para escuelas públicas como para orfanatos.