Preliminary Programme

This paper examines the spatial significance of the punishment system in the Swedish secondary schools during the period 1905–1965, by looking at the use of expulsions as a punishment. The goal is to contribute to both the study of expulsions as a school practice and to highlight the role that the spatial conditions played in the punishment system of the secondary schools.
The Swedish upper secondary education were reformed in 1905. The new school system rested on centuries-old traditions, which is reflected in, among other things, the school’s punishment system. The harshest punishment the school was able to use was expulsions. During the 1900s the Swedish school system went through many changes, but expulsion as a method of punishment remained in place until the major changes of the Swedish school system in the 1960s.
Based on the practice of expulsions from secondary schools, the aim of this paper is to establish the role of the spatial conditions in the use of expulsion as a punishment. This will be done by an examination of the different arenas and places where the students committed the offenses that led to expulsion. This enable a study of both the spatial perspective and the schools monitoring of the pupils. Both these aspects is discussed in relation to Erving Goffman’s concept total institutions.
The analysis show that schools had far-reaching responsibilities when it came to monitoring pupils’ behaviour. The pupils were not only supervised during school hours, but also supervised and punished for offenses committed after school, both in the city and at home. (Show less)

"As regards to discipline, therefore, it is advisable that the educator of youth know its object, its subject matter, and the various forms which it may assume, since he will then know why, when, and how, systematized severity is to be used" [Comenius, Didactica Magna, c. 1630]

John Amos Comenius Didactica Magna is one of the most fundamental, rich, and fascinating pedagogical scripts of the early modern period. Even if its actual importance as an impetus for European school policy makers and school reformers during the early modern era has been disputed, it has nonetheless managed to linger as an inspiration for debates on various school related issues to up until the very present. Its blatant broadness and will to explain almost every part of schooling seem to have a timeless attraction. In a Swedish early modern context Comenius is of particular interest. During the mid-seventeenth century he spent time at the royal court and his general thoughts on education is claimed to have had an impact on school policy making.
The present paper focuses on a very specific topic ingrained in his great didactics, namely his views on the nature and role of school discipline. Even if this, his thoughts on one of the most important areas of pre-modern education and pedagogic philosophy, has perceived some attention in previous research, his actual influence on national policy making is less known. The aim of the paper follows Comenius own words, namely to outline and analyze his views on the object of school discipline, its subject matter, its various forms and his ideas about why, when and how it was to be conducted. This will be analyzed in relation to the instructions given in the Swedish school decrees of the mid- and late seventeenth century. Theoretically, the paper expands on Michel Foucault’s ideas about governmentality and discipline, as well as on Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theories. (Show less)

This paper examines the relations between gender, social class and school discipline. In Finnish secondary schools, detention replaced corporal punishment as a disciplinary method during the nineteenth century. This process was a part of a wider European trajectory. According to the Foucauldian approach on the history of education, the nineteenth century saw the emergence of softer disciplinary techniques, as schools officially gave up more violent punishment methods. Detention, a particular form of punishment that is based on both isolation and surveillance, is one example of these milder practices. Furthermore, nineteenth century represents the time of great changes in the Western education systems. Among other things, the system of secondary education was regenerated widely in Europe during the century. This process, in particular, resulted in the more frequent secondary education of females. In regard to this matter, Finnish secondary schools was no exception. However, gender was not the only social category that defined the pupils of Finnish secondary schools: as secondary education of females, secondary education of lower classes started to become more common during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Thus, I argue that in Finnish secondary schools, the intersection of gender and social class was significant in the early twentieth century.
According to the earlier studies on the history of education, there were significant disparities in the treatment of the allegedly misbehaved male and female pupils in the early twentieth century school. Moreover, gender defined the behavior of the pupils, as males and females were punished for different kind of offences. In this study, my hypothesis is that social class similarly influenced school discipline. Earlier studies have emphasized the significance of social class in education. According to these studies, social class not only shaped schooling itself but also its outcomes. Hence, I consider the meaning of both gender and social class in school discipline by examining the disciplinary actions that were implemented in Finnish secondary schools in the early twentieth century. As a main source, I employ the punishment records and pupil registers of the schools. These documents enable me to study how different social categories such as social class and gender defined school discipline. Thus, enabling me to obtain a broad view of how disciplinary practices were implemented in schools. (Show less)