In this episode we speak with Dr. Rebekka Horlacher (Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich) about the role of sources and materialities in history of education. Reflecting on the potentials of different sources might just be one of the core operations of historical research activities and with Dr. Rebekka Horlacher we have a very well-versed scholar giving us a better understand of the complexities of sources. We also discuss the role of the curriculum and how it is shaped and altered over time. Another main theme we touch on centers around the Swiss educator and school reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Although his work and ideas are very well-known, Horlacher (who was involved in an editorial project that compiled letters written to Pestalozzi) shows us how big thinkers not only shaped discourses, but that they were also part of what we might call “knowledge networks”. Finally, Horlacher shares some helpful hints for early career researchers (ECR) with us, making this our very first true ECR episode.
“Laudatio” by Prof. Dr. Sabine Reh (BBF | Bibliothek für Bildungsgeschichtliche Forschung, Abteilung des DIPF | Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation & Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Opening quote
„In general, schooling and nation-building are associated with the unifying role of language and history education, since language and culture are perceived as fundamental pillars of the nation. Less discussed—at least regarding the curriculum—is the role of physical education, even if physical education was a highly political issue in the first decades of the nineteenth century.“ (Horlacher, R. The Emergence of Physical Education as a Subject for Compulsory Schooling in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century: The Case of Phokion Heinrich Clias and Adolf Spiess. Nordic Journal of Educational History, 4(2), p. 13)
