Friedrich Fröbel and Preschool Education in the French speaking Part of Switzer-land: 1860-1914

Abstract

The first private froebelian Kindergarten classes in the French speaking part of Switzerland were founded in the early 1860’s in Lausanne, Geneva and Neuchâtel. Contrary to the German speaking part of Switzerland, it was not Kindergarten which became the main form of preschool education. Public preschools were founded from the 1870s on and were integrated into the school system. However, the froebelian method became the main pedagogical reference for preschools up until the First World War. This method served at the same time to promote scholastic learning. Were Fröbel’s ideas wrongly interpreted and could this be considered as an «instrumentalization» of Fröbel’s ideas, which did not advocate the early teaching of school-skills in Kindergarten, but as a holistic education of young children? If yes, why? Why were Fröbel’s ideas so «successful» in the French speaking part of Switzerland? These questions are investigated in an ongoing research project; first results of it are presented in this article.