Learning to be Froebelian: student teachers’ life histories 1952–1965

Abstract

Drawing on the life histories of nine women who were trained at Froebel College in the 1950s and 1960s, this paper examines the women's narratives as Froebelian student teachers and explores their remembered constructions of their experiences. Using an analytical framework underpinned by theories of identity and language their stories are shown to shed light on the women's engagement with and commitment to Froebelian ideas and their sense of identifying with what the college stood for. The women's stories illustrate a version of professionalism, located in time, place and culture, which incorporates contradictory elements of self-belief and self-effacement. In reflecting on their identities as Froebelians, their stories enact an understanding of politics and advocacy which demonstrates professional autonomy. Unexpectedly, their stories also show some difficulties with articulating Froebelian principles, and instead express an emotional attachment. That emotional engagement, rather than being seen as an inadequacy, is argued to be a strand in developing a hopeful, motivating and enabling professional workforce, capable of working effectively in the challenging current context of increasing statutory pressures towards performativity, regulation and control in early childhood education and care.Keywords: Froebel; early childhood professionalism; women teachers; life history IntroductionIf three hundred years after my death my method of education shall be completely established according to its idea, I shall rejoice in heaven. (Froebel, quoted in von MarenholtzBuelow 1877, 17) The life histories of the nine Froebel-trained women whose stories form the basis of this research show that Froebel's philosophy and approach had a profound and lasting effect on their professional identities. We can barely speculate about early childhood education in 2152, which would be three hundred years after Froebel's death (1852), but our analysis of these stories demonstrates how the non-prescriptive nature of his theories and the acute sense of belonging and believing that his ideas engendered in these women in the 1950s and 1960s contribute to the enduring qualities of Froebel's philosophy.We are driven by a contemporary commitment to Froebel's educational ideals (1885, 1896) and to protecting and developing them to the benefit of early years pupils and practitioners today. This is in resistance to ongoing statutory pressures to follow a more didactic and assessment-driven pedagogical approach, as highlighted by Osgood (2006Osgood ( , 2010, Taggart (2011) and Rose and Rogers (2012). This article draws on life history interview data, collected as part of a research project funded by the Froebel Trust, and seeks to explore how Froebelian principles were understood and put into practice in the 1950s and 1960s, as narrated by a group of women who were trained at Froebel College during that time. What was their educational experience at Froebel College? How did they engage with Froebelian ideas? What was the impact of that experience ...

Protecting and extending Froebelian principles in practice: Exploring the importance of learning through play

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‘The people in the purple shirts’: Froebelian insights to a Singing Medicine project in a children’s hospital

“…The characteristics of the project were emphasised including the identity and personal attributes of the vocal tutors. They appear to hold attributes noted by Hoskins and Smedley (2017) of understanding the imperative of play and enabling environments in developing children's participatory competencies. They 'begin where the learner is' (Bruce, 2011: 30).…”

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