Johnny and Ivan learning in a programmed way: The reinvention of one American technology

in IJHE Bildungsgeschichte (2019), 9(1), 29-46

In the heated times of the Cold War, two hypothetical schoolboys – Johnny in the United States and Ivan in the Soviet Union (USSR) – were both promised a school where they would learn in a new way. This ... [more ▼]

In the heated times of the Cold War, two hypothetical schoolboys – Johnny in the United States and Ivan in the Soviet Union (USSR) – were both promised a school where they would learn in a new way. This new way – the technology of programmed instruction – was developed by the American behavioral psychologist Burrhus F. Skinner. It became popular globally over the 1960s and was promoted passionately in the United States and the USSR alike. The aim of this article is to explore this shared sentiment, with the specific intention of explaining how, during the Cold War, an American innovation was able to become a hit in Soviet education under reform. Un­ derstanding educational transfer as translation rather than transportation, the article unveils the ways in which the idea of programmed learning became embedded and reconceptualized through the specific Soviet political, historical, and cultural lens of the time. The case of programmed instruction not only demonstrates that ideas become global only through their local reinvention but also illustrates that assumed scientific­ hence ­universal educational innovations or programs are never such. [less ▲]

Transformations of sex education since the mid-twentieth century

in IJHE Bildungsgeschichte (2016), 6(2),

Hans-Christian Harten: Himmlers Lehrer. Eine interdisziplinäre Gesamtschau auf das Schulungswesen der SS"

in IJHE Bildungsgeschichte (2015), (2), 241-243

Rezension von: Hervé Le Bras, Emmanuel Todd: Le mystère français. Paris 2014

in IJHE Bildungsgeschichte (2014), 1-2014

Disciplining: From Corporal Punishment to Full-body Segregation. Comments on “Strict Discipline” by William F. Pinar

in IJHE Bildungsgeschichte (2013), 3(1), 113-115

The text written by William Pinar on “strict discipline” raises issues that can be uncomfortable and yet will benefit most from leaving the closet behind. Pinar here emphasizes the vulnerability of young ... [more ▼]

The text written by William Pinar on “strict discipline” raises issues that can be uncomfortable and yet will benefit most from leaving the closet behind. Pinar here emphasizes the vulnerability of young learners, behavioral norms under continuous pressure as schooling rises in importance for life chances, the power of masters, and the tensions of guiding and disciplining children and adolescents as they orient themselves morally in their own cohorts and in contrast to their elders. His concept of Currere, or the running of the course and the lived experiences of curriculum that constitute a person’s education (see Pinar 2011), underscores the significance of subjectivity, individuality, indeed: developmental distinctive-ness. Pupils’ innocence and their blossoming on the path to adulthood as well as the close contact required in interactive learning processes inherently provide moments of fondness and aversion—and sometimes even passion. The latter have become verboten in an age shocked by innumerable cases of sexual abuse in family, ecclesiastical, and pedagogic settings, and sensitive about the lifelong damage often caused by such acts. There are also costs to ignoring the potential and the need for understanding and intimacy in learning processes, whether intergenerational or among diverse peers. [less ▲]

Standardisierung nationaler Bildungspolitiken: Die Erschaffung internationaler Experten, Planern und Statistiken in der Frühphase der OECD

in IJHE Bildungsgeschichte (2013), 3(1), 60-77

The following paper analyzes phenomena of standardization describing a process of educational policy in the aftermath of the Second World War and in the middle of the Cold War – that is, around 1960. The ... [more ▼]

The following paper analyzes phenomena of standardization describing a process of educational policy in the aftermath of the Second World War and in the middle of the Cold War – that is, around 1960. The concept of standardization is used to describe a successful historical process in which previous different existing patterns of thoughts or institutional behaviors were being replaced by one prevailing model. The European standardization process observable in the early 1960s triggered by the OECD affected the organization of the educational policies on a ministerial level designed to influence the national school systems according to a specific ideology. This ideology was transported and disseminated by a specific rhetoric that bypassed political taboo themes and that covered up the clear strategies. This paved the way for the process of standardization and the implementation of not only formal adaptation of the organization of education but also and in particular specific ways of educational planning, such as statistics, and with them specific ideologies of how society and its citizens should be shaped. [less ▲]

Bypassing Federal Education Policies. The OECD and the Case of Switzerland

in IJHE Bildungsgeschichte (2012), 1(2), 24-35

Pedagogy on Display. Images and the "Grammar" of Education

in IJHE Bildungsgeschichte (2012), 2012(2), 243-246

(book review) Klaus-Peter Horn/Jörg-W. Link (Hrsg.): Erziehungsverhältnisse im Nationalsozialismus

in IJHE Bildungsgeschichte (2012), (1), 120-123

Der mag ist ein haf - Die didaktische Dimension illustrierter Flugblätter der Frühen Neuzeit

in IJHE Bildungsgeschichte (2011), 2