Kindergarten Narratives on Froebelian Education

Helen May is Professor of Education and the former Dean (2006-2011) at the University of Otago College of Education, New Zealand.Kristen Nawrotzki is Lecturer at the University of Education in Heidelberg, Germany.Larry Prochner is Professor of Early Childhood Education and the former Chair of the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta, Canada.

• List of IllustrationsNotes on ContributorsKevin J. Brehony 1948-2013 Rosemary DeemPreface, Helen May and Kristen Nawrotzki1. Tracking Kindergarten as a Travelling Idea, Larry Prochner2. Working at Play or Playing at Work? A Froebelian Paradox Re-examined, Kevin J. BrehonyPart I: International Movement of Ideas: Froebelian Education in Time and Place3. Happiness, Play, and Bourgeois Morality: The Early Years of Froebel Schooling in the Netherlands, 1858-1904, Nelleke Bakker4. Froebelian Teachers Abroad: Implementing a Modern Infant Education System in Colonial Wellington, New Zealand, 1906–1925, Kerry Bethell5. In the Name of Froebel: Fundraising for Kindergartens in Sweden, 1890-1945, Johannes Westberg6. ‘Such Marvelous Training’: Grand Rapids, Michigan as a Kindergartening Centre, 1870-1905, Kristen D. NawrotzkiPart II: Curricular and Pedagogical Change: Froebelians Beyond the Kindergarten7. Kindergarten at the Dewey School, University of Chicago, 1898–1903, Larry Prochner and Anna Kirova8. Guiding Creativity: English Froebelian Educators and Plays for Children, 1892-1939, Amy Palmer9. Freeing the Child: Froebelians and the Transformation of Learning Through Play, Self-Activity and Project Work in English Junior School Classrooms, 1920-1952, Jane ReadPart III:Radical by Tradition: Long-Term Perspectives on Kindergarten Education10. ‘Come, Let Us Live With Our Children’: Undokai, The Children’s Play Festival at a Froebelian Kindergarten in Japan, 1889-2015, Yukiyo Nashida and Fusa Abe11. Relocation, Continuity and Change: Dunedin Kindergartens, New Zealand, 1890s-2010s, Helen MaySelected ReferencesIndex

This book honours the contribution of Professor Kevin Brehony (1948-2013), an internationally respected Froebelian scholar, through taking up some of the challenges he explored in which historical perspectives can play a role in current debates, informing policies and practices globally. This is achieved through the dialogic spaces created by the authors which interrogate the internal challenges of Froebelian early childhood education as well as the ways in which Froebelians have engaged with the world beyond that framework at different points in history. It makes an exciting read because it has so much to say that is important for policy and practice in early childhood education globally today.