 |
The first private froebelian
Kindergarten classes in the French speaking part of Switzerland
were founded in the early 1860’s in Lausanne, Geneva and
Neuchâtel. Contrary to the German speaking part of Switzerland,
it was not Kindergarten which became the main form of preschool
education. Public preschools were founded from the 1870s on
and were integrated into the school system. However, the froebelian
method became the main pedagogical reference for preschools
up until the First World War. This method served at the same
time to promote scholastic learning. Were Fröbel’s
ideas wrongly interpreted and could this be considered as an
«instrumentalization» of Fröbel’s ideas,
which did not advocate the early teaching of school-skills in
Kindergarten, but as a holistic education of young children?
If yes, why? Why were Fröbel’s ideas so «successful»
in the French speaking part of Switzerland? These questions
are investigated in an ongoing research project; first results
of it are presented in this article. |
|
