Froebel Education Re‐Assessed: British and German Experience, 1850‐1940

Abstract

The article claims that Froebel Education is not the unitary phenomenon that appears in educational histories and argument. It maintains that the two major projects of Froebel's life — at Keilhau and at Blankenburg — were radically dissimilar. It argues that from the mistaken conflation of the two, around the turn of the century, a hybrid emerged in Britain, less suited to public child welfare than to private education. The article suggests that this was a factor in a developing apartheid between early child‐care and early child‐education in Britain. In contrast, Germany developed the Blankenburg project with its integrated approach to childhood provision. It is only now, a century later, that there are signs that Britain is following the German lesson.

Key words:

• Froebel
• Britain
• Germany
• 1850‐1940