Preliminary Programme

In Hungary, a significant part of research on socialist education policy and education science focuses on the fifties. However, apart from the few exceptions, it seems that Makarenko's work and his place in the socialist education and education policy are among the less studied areas. With this study we are trying to reduce this hiatus. In our analysis, we are going to try not to interpret Makarenko and his works, but to explain how the contemporary educator scholars interpreted them in a pedagogical and political-ideological context.
We are looking for answers to the following questions in our research:
1. What are the educational science groups that interpret Makarenko's personality and work and implement his views on teachers?
2. How did the macro-level political and educational changes of the long fifties - the Rákosi era started in 1948, the decision of the Party on education in 1950, the rise and fall of Imre Nagy, the Revolution in 1956 and its suppression, the changes in the education policy in 1958 - affect the interpretations of Makarenko's pedagogical work?
3. Which elements of Makarenko's work became highlighted during the first period of Soviet influence, and which ones would be ignored later? If several educational science groups interpreted Makarenko’s work in the examined period, what are their similarities and differences? And can the differences be explained by differing educational science concepts or political considerations?
In our study, we have used the conflict theory model as a theoretical framework and the political science approach as a methodology.
The sources of my research are the Pedagogical Review, the publications of Public Education in the 1950s, the Socialist Education Library series, and the pedagogical works on Makarenko's writings published in the era.
Based on our research and according to the special literature, Makarenko and his work, which became a reference point in the socialist education of the early 1950s, were interpreted by the educational science professionals who entered the positions of the education management. This group lost its power of influence on education policy due to the change in it in the course of 1958, but retained its positions in science and higher education under the Kadarian consolidation policy. This power arrangement is what can explain the fact why the scientific Makarenko interpretations carry the characteristics of the pedagogy of the Stalinist era in the fifties and partly later on. The changes in the Makarenko interpretation occurred only as a result of the (educational) political changes in 1958 that implemented the Kadarian two-pronged politics (anti-dogmatist and anti-revisionist). (Show less)

This paper examined the career of Swedish "slojd" in Canada. A 19th century program of manual training thought to bring mind, body and spirit into harmony, the "sloyd system" [anglicized spelling] caught the attention of William C. Macdonald, a tobacco magnate and well-known early 20th century philanthopist who was enthusiastic about the prospect of reforming rural education. The paper explores the impact of the Macdonald Sloyd Fund, founded in 1901 to funded European study tours and created experimental primary schools in across eastern and Atlantic Canada. While Macdonald is better known for his philanthropic efforts as a patron of McGill University, his exploits in elementary education have received less attention, much less the Swedish influence and origins of key curricula taught within their walls. This paper traces the appeal and influence of sloyd in the schools' manual training programs, exploring the reasons this program appealed to education reformers like Macdonald, the relationship to larger calls for “rural rejuvenation” and economic development in an industrializing nation a century ago. (Show less)

In recent decades the globalisation of educational expertise has intensified. International actors, such as the OECD, for instance provide policy recommendations that influence national school systems. Since the OECD disseminates knowledge on the characteristics of good education, the organisation’s recommendations may be regarded as a type of knowledge circulation on education. At the same time, there is a long history of knowledge on education “circulating” across national borders and Sweden provides a good example of how progressive educational ideas have been “imported” from the USA. In this paper the period 1920-1950 is in focus and the aim is to present and analyse how these ideas reached Sweden. Centre of attention lies on how different types of actors (teachers, researchers, and politicians) contributed to the transfer of American progressive education to Swedish schools. The paper shows that the American influence, particularly in the form of John Dewey, not only reached Sweden through well-known elites such as the Myrdals. Consequently, it was not a simple case of “importing” Dewey, as described by Popkwewitz (2006), who depicts the dissemination of Dewey to the rest of the world as a simple American export. (Show less)

In Europe, the tripartite career pattern of artisans (apprentice-journeyman-master) have been generally associated with craft guilds and urban environments. Nevertheless, rural artisans were also capable of training young boys to become skilful artisans, who would then serve their rural customers. In early modern Finland, rural artisans had a lawful right (from the end of 17th century) to take own apprentices. On the other hand, urban artisans and apprentices worked in a legal framework that was set in general guild orders (skråordning from 1669 and 1720) which, for its part, specified the limits of guild activities and apprenticeship practices. For instance, they stipulated a minimum enrolment age and a maximum trial period. Rural artisans had their own traditions, but the guild orders, although they were designed for urban craft guilds, also influenced the norms and training practices of rural artisans.
In this presentation, I compare urban and rural artisans’ vocational training and apprenticeship practices in early modern Finland – where most of the artisans worked in rural environment and craft guilds only operated in towns. I explore the origins, heyday and decline of a craft apprenticeship institution and analyse its meaning to the early modern economy. In order to do that, I examine legal texts, gather information about practices and norms that artisans used, and compare the number of apprentices in towns and rural areas. A more detailed analysis is done in two particular settings; I have chosen one town and one parish for a closer analysis. Here research utilizes prosopographic analysis of apprentices. Time period of research is from late 17th century till end on 19th century. An individual-centred approach provides opportunities to explore the characteristics and differences in apprentice material. I am particularly interested in exploring commonality of practices, and how urban craft guild regulations affected rural conventions. (Show less)