Kindergarten Narratives on Froebelian Education - by Helen May & Kristen Nawrotzki & Larry Prochner (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Kindergarten Narratives on Froebelian Education showcases the latest scholarship and historical understandings concerning the casting of the kindergarten idea abroad: across cultures, continents and centuries.

Each chapter reveals previously unknown narratives of intrepid endeavour, political pragmatism and pedagogical innovation that collectively provide insight into the transformation of Froebel's ideas on early education into a global phenomenon. Across global contexts, each chapter presents a case study of the ideas scattering abroad, illustrative of the movement of ideas, curricula and pedagogical change; in effect taking the kindergarten beyond the geographies and pedagogies of its German beginnings and borders. Chapters draw on historical examples of Froebelian education from The Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, the UK and the USA.

In the journal History of Education in 2006, Froebelian history scholar Professor Kevin J. Brehony (1948-2013) lamented the 'relative neglect' of the history of early years education at the same time there was a heightened global social and political interest in educating the young child. In this book, an international team of contributors respond to Brehony's suggestion that historical perspectives can play a role in current debates and suggest ways historical narratives might inform policies and practices in twenty-first century early childhood education, care settings and contexts. Reconnecting past lessons and insights with present and future concerns for early education, young children and their place in society, this important collection also includes an historical timeline charting the spread of Froebelian education ideas and kindergartens across the world.

Review Quotes

This book honours the contribution of Professor Kevin Brehony (1948-2013), an internationally respected Froebelian scholar, through taking up some of the challenges he explored in which historical perspectives can play a role in current debates, informing policies and practices globally. This is achieved through the dialogic spaces created by the authors which interrogate the internal challenges of Froebelian early childhood education as well as the ways in which Froebelians have engaged with the world beyond that framework at different points in history. It makes an exciting read because it has so much to say that is important for policy and practice in early childhood education globally today.
Tina Bruce CBE, Honorary Visiting Professor, University of Roehampton, UK

This rich collection of new research, written by prominent international scholars in the field of kindergarten history, is a fitting tribute to Professor Kevin Brehony and to the legacy of Friedrich Froebel. President of the International Froebel Society, Professor Brehony's work was well known and respected within the community of early childhood and kindergarten researchers and educators, and he is remembered as the heart of organized international scholarship on Froebel. Early childhood education continues to be contested terrain and this volume speaks to the core and flexibility of Froebel's ideas, demonstrating that after 175 years his philosophy and methods remain vital to scholarly and public discourses on best practices. Today, in debates over work or play, child centered or adult centered pedagogies, Froebelian principles still provide a powerful justification for advocates of child-centered learning. These essays represent the fulfilment of Froebel's own hope, "If only the seed be cast abroad, its springing up will not fail nor the fruit be wanting.+? For early childhood scholars, educators, and policy makers especially, these highly textured, transnational case studies of applied Froebelian pedagogy are essential reading.
Roberta Wollons, Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA

About the Author

Helen May is Professor of Education and the former Dean (2006-2011) at the University of Otago College of Education, New Zealand.

Kristen Nawrotzki is Lecturer at the University of Education in Heidelberg, Germany.

Larry Prochner is Professor of Early Childhood Education and the former Chair of the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta, Canada.