Abstract
From a historical point of view it is not only possible to adopt an innovative approach concerning the way the material culture and representation of educational research are examined, but the historical study itself can also contribute to a revamping of the material scholarly culture and the way it is represented. The latter can be brought about both by means of research projects being set up with an intrinsic finality, as well as via projects contemplating an alternative way of disseminating and communicating scientific findings. In our chapter we substantiate this thesis on the basis of the example of the school desk, which we deal with at various different levels of historiography. First, we will delve into the iconic and metaphorical use of the ‘school desk’ on covers, in titles, slogans and so on. These are often historical images that have been extracted from their original context and appropriated in a way that no longer wants to represent traditional or historical practices. Historical research on the educational uses of the school desk, however, can help explain its symbolic value for the present day (which is also revealed by the fact that virtually all education museums include displays of school desks). Second, starting from a recent study on the innovative value of the school desks of Oscar Brodsky we will show how alternative paths have to be explored in order to successfully link the long tradition of uses of the desk with the process of modernization. Up to now—and this is our third issue—the historiography of the school desk has been framed almost exclusively within a Foucouldian paradigm, a research tradition which bears several inconveniences for a dynamic approach towards the historical relationship of the educational actors (teachers and pupils) with the school desk. This resulted, among other things, in the school desk primarily being conceived of as a static object, even in the historical study of the educational process. Hence, we argue in the fourth section for a more dynamic approach. In our view, instead of isolating the school desk as a source for historical research, future-oriented research should contextualize its use, not only against the background of the prevailing educational practices, but also in relation to the existing cultural-historical practices in other social fields. Studies on the ‘grammar of schooling’ and the ‘grammar of educationalization’, such as those that we have undertaken in the past, but which are also at the head of various other initiatives, constitute a good starting point for this. In the final section we discuss to what extent education museums in general and specific exhibition projects in particular can help to realize such a dynamic historical understanding. On the one hand, it is obvious that there exists within the world of education museums a great potential to valorise the cultural heritage of the materialities of schooling in relation to the history of educational practices. On the other hand, however, this same world has remained so amateurish and conservative that the danger of a romanticized and nostalgic interpretation is lurking around almost every corner, although we can certainly point to one or two promising initiatives in the direction we have described as desirable.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bakker, N., Braster, J., Rietveld-van Wingerden, M., & Van Gorp, A. (Eds.). (2007). Utile dulci. Leer- en leesboeken voor de Nederlandse en Vlaamse jeugd. Jaarboek van de Belgisch-Nederlandse Vereniging voor de Geschiedenis van Opvoeding en Onderwijs 2006. Assen: Van Gorcum.
Bantigny, L. (2013). Historicités du 20e siècle. Quelques jalons sur une notion. Vingtième siècle. Revue d'histoire, 117(1), 13–25.
Basis. Ledenblad van het COV. Verbond van de christelijke onderwijzers (2012, October 20). 119(15), p. 1.
Benjamin, W. (2006). Berlin childhood around 1900 (H. Eiland, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Original: Berliner Kindheit um Neunzehnhundert. Gießener Fassung, 2000)
Blake, N., Smeyers, P., Smith, R., & Standish, P. (1998). Thinking again. Education after postmodernism. Westport: Bergin & Garvey.
Braster, J., Grosvenor, I., & del Mar del Pozo Andrés, M. (Eds.). (2011). The black box of schooling. A cultural history of the classroom. Brussels: Peter Lang.
Briffaerts, J. (2007). ‘Als Kongo op de schoolbank wil’. De onderwijspraktijk in het lager onderwijs in Belgisch Congo (1925–1960). Leuven: Acco.
Burke, C., Cunningham, P., & Grosvenor, I. (2010). “Putting education in its place”: Space, place and materialities in the history of education. History of Education, 39, 677–680.
Caruso, M. (2003). Biopolitik im Klassenzimmer. Zur Ordnung der Führungspraktiken in den Bayerischen Volksschulen (1869–1918). Weinheim: Beltz Verlag.
Caruso, M. (2008). Order through the gaze: A comparative perspective of the construction of visibility in Monitorial Schooling (German States—Spain, approx. 1815–1848). Encounters on Education, 9(Fall), 147–172.
Catteeuw, K. (2004). “Hoe oud het nieuwe en hoe nieuw het oude is”. Schoolmusea in België, van 1848 tot 2003. In M. D’hoker & M. Depaepe (Eds.), Op eigen vleugels. Liber Amicorum prof. dr. An Hermans (pp. 237–248). Antwerp: Garant.
Catteeuw, K., Dams, K., Depaepe, M., & Simon, F. (2005). Filming the black box: Primary schools on film in Belgium: A first assessment on unused sources. In U. Mietzner, K. Myers, & N. Peim (Eds.), Visual history. Images of education (pp. 203–231). Oxford: Peter Lang.
Cüppers, C., & Weisgerber, B. (1989). Fibel, Schrift und Schule. Wie Kinder lesen und schreiben lernten. Bergisch Gladbach: Bergischen Museum für Bergbau, Handwerk und Gewerbe.
D’hoker, M., & Tolleneer, J. (Eds.). (1995). Het vergeten lichaam: geschiedenis van de lichamelijke opvoeding in België en Nederland. Leuven: Garant.
Dasberg, L., & Jansing, J. W. G. (1978). Meer kennis meer kans. Het Nederlandse onderwijs 1843–1914. Haarlem: Fibula-Van Dishoeck.
De Cock, T. (2012). Schoolbanken krijgen tweede leven in Roemenië. Het Nieuwsblad. Posted on October 12, 2012 at: http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail.aspx?articleid=BLTDE_20121012_006
De Vries, G. C. (1993). Het pedagogisch regiem: groei en grenzen van de geschoolde samenleving. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff.
Depaepe, M. (2012). Creating cultural hybridity through the schooling and the educationalization of a Congolese elite? Paper presented at ECER, Network 17, Cádiz.
Depaepe, M., & Simon, F. (2009). Sources in the making of histories of education: Proofs, arguments, and other reasonings from the historian’s workplace. In P. Smeyers & M. Depaepe (Eds.), Educational research: Proofs, arguments, and other reasonings (pp. 23–39). Dordrecht: Springer.
Depaepe, M., et al. (2000). Order in progress. Everyday educational practice in primary schools—Belgium, 1880–1970. Leuven: Leuven University Press.
Depaepe, M., Lauwers, H., & Simon, F. (2006). The feminization of the teaching profession in Belgium in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In R. Cortina & S. San Roman (Eds.), Women and teaching. Global perspectives on the feminization of a profession (pp. 155–183). New York: Palgrave.
Depaepe, M., Herman, F., Surmont, M., Van Gorp, A., & Simon, F. (2008). About pedagogization: From the perspective of the history of education. In P. Smeyers & M. Depaepe (Eds.), Educational research: The educationalization of social problems (pp. 13–30). Dordrecht: Springer.
Depaepe, M., Simon, F., Herman, F., & Van Gorp, A. (2012). Brodsky’s hygienische Klappschulbank: Zu leicht für die schulische Mentalität? Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 52(Beiheft), 50–65.
Dittrich, K. (2009). Der Augenarzt Hermann Cohn und der transnationale Austausch über Schulbänke auf Weltausstellungen des 19. Jahrhunderts. Paper presented at the “Jahrestagung der Sektion Historische Bildungsforschung in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft: Die Materialität der Erziehung—Zur Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte pädagogischer Objekte”. Marbach am Neckar, 19 bis 21. September.
Durnez, J. (1989). Een bank vooruit … en bord afvegen. Schoolmeesters en schoolleven in Vlaanderen. Antwerp: Standaard Uitgeverij.
Faure, E., et al. (1974). Leren om te leven. De wereld van het onderwijs vandaag en morgen (F. Oomes & J. Tielens, Trans.). Utrecht: Uitgeverij Het Spectrum. (Original: Apprendre à être. Paris: Unesco, 1972)
Foulon, R. (1985). Le maître d’école. Brussels: P. Legrain.
Grosvenor, I., Lawn, M., & Rousmaniere, K. (Eds.). (1999). Silences and images: The social history of the classroom. New York: Peter Lang.
Guide of the Municipal Education Museum of Ypres. (1999). Ypres: Stedelijke musea.
Hamilton, P. (2011). The changing role of memory and history in public life. Keynote at the conference “Le passé et nous. De la conscience historique au XXIe siècle”. Quebec, 29 septembre au 1er octobre. vimeo.com/29900350
Hartog, F. (2012). Régimes d’historicité. Présentisme et expérience du temps. Paris: Editions du Seuil.
Herman, F., Van Gorp, A., Simon, F., & Depaepe, M. (2011). The school desk: From concept to object. History of Education, 40, 97–117.
Hnilica, S. (2003). Disziplinierte Körper: Die Schulbank als Erziehungsapparat. Vienna: Edition Selene.
Jansenswillen, P. (2009). Hoe was’t op school, jongen? Pedagogische praktijken in het middelbaar onderwijs in Limburg 1878–1970. Antwerp: Garant.
Latour, B., & Weibel, P. (Eds.). (2005). Making things public. Atmospheres of democracy. Karlsruhe/Cambridge: ZKM. Center for Art and Media/The MIT Press.
Leenders, H. (1999). Montessori en fascistisch Italië. Een receptiegeschiedenis. Baarn: Uitgeverij Intro.
Meijsen, J. H. (1976). Lager onderwijs in de spiegel der geschiedenis. 175 jaar nationale wetgeving op het lager onderwijs in Nederland 1801–1976. ’s-Gravenhage: Staatsuitgeverij.
Mogarro, M. J. (2010). Cultura material e modernização pedagógica em Portugal (séculos XIX–XX). Educatio Siglo XXI, 28(2), 89–114.
Montessori, M. (1909). Il Metodo della pedagogia scientifica applicato all’educazione infantile nelle Casa dei Bambini. Loescher: Citta di Castello.
Moreno Martinez, P. L. (2005). History of school desk development in terms of hygiene and pedagogy in Spain (1838–1936). In M. Lawn & I. Grosvenor (Eds.), Materialities of schooling: Design, technology, objects, routines (pp. 71–95). Oxford: Symposium Books.
Moreno Martinez, P. L. (2006). The hygienist movement and the modernization of education in Spain. Paedagogica Historica, 42, 793–815.
Olson, R. J. M., Reilly, P. L., & Shepherd, R. (2006). The biography of the object in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Priem, K., König, G. M., & Casale, R. (2012). Die Materialität der Erziehung: Kulturelle und soziale Aspekte pädagogischer Objekte. Einleitung zum Beiheft. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 52(Beiheft), 7–13.
Stilma. (1995/2002). Van kloosterklas tot basisschool. Een historisch overzicht van opvoeding en onderwijs in Nederland. Nijkerk: Uitgeverij Intro.
Strobbe, J. (2006). 200 jaar dichters, denkers en durvers. Het Klein Seminarie van Roeselare. Biografie van een college. Tielt: Lannoo.
Tra banchi e quaderni. (2007). (Cd-disc of the exhibition). Macerata: Università di Macerata.
Tyack, D., & Tobin, W. (1994). The “grammar” of schooling: Why has it been so hard to change? American Educational Research Journal, 31(3), 453–479.
Van de Wijngaert, M. (Ed.). (1988). Schoollopen in oorlogstijd. Het dagelijkse leven van middelbare scholieren tijdens de Duitse bezetting (1940–1944). Brussels: UFSAL/Navorsings- en Studiecentrum voor de Geschiedenis van de Tweede Wereldoorlog.
Van Essen, M. (2006). Kwekeling tussen akte en ideaal. De opleiding tot onderwijzer(es) vanaf 1800. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij SUN.
Van Remoortere, J. (2012). Meester, meester, meester. Verhalen van meesters en juffen van toen. Tielt: Lannoo.
Vanderhaeghen, J. (2011). Van ezelsbank naar schrijfsalon. Gent: OCB vzw.
Velle, K. (1995). Het lichaam in de geschiedschrijving van de Nieuwste Tijd. In M. D’hoker & J. Tolleneer (Eds.), Het vergeten lichaam (pp. 103–124). Leuven: Garant.
Viñao, A. (2001). Do education reforms fail? A historian’s response. Encounters on Education, 2(Fall), 27–47.
Viñao, A. (2012). La historia material e inmaterial de la escuela: Memoria, patrimonio y educación. Educação, 35(1), 7–17.
Yanes Cabrera, C. (2007). Pedagogical museums and the safeguarding of an intangible educational heritage: Didactic practices and possibilities. Tidskrift för Lärarutbildning och Forskning/Journal of Research in Teacher Education, 14(4), 67–80.
Websites (Retrieved November 2012)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Depaepe, M., Simon, F., Verstraete, P. (2014). Valorising the Cultural Heritage of the School Desk Through Historical Research. In: Smeyers, P., Depaepe, M. (eds) Educational Research: Material Culture and Its Representation. Educational Research, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03083-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03083-8_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-03082-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-03083-8
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)