Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) and the Froebel Movement

These pages contain information relating to the Friedrich Froebel the founder of the kindergarten and the movement that sprang up in order to implement his proposals regarding the education and schooling of young children.

Froebel's ideas and practices were taken up in many different societies and the Froebel movement was international in character. Initially, however, the focus here will be on the movement in Anglophone countries.

They are very much 'work in progress' and they will be added to when time and other resources permit.

Froebel's main work in English translation have been reprinted together with a selection of articles and books which highlight aspects of the development of the Froebel movement in England. The six volume set which is published by Routledge is entitled, The Origins of Nursery Education: The Froebelian Experiment. For further information click here.

The original list of contents of the volumes has been changed but it is retained here in an amended form as it may be of use to researchers and others interested in the topic.

Froebel, like many of his contemporaries in early nineteenth century Germany. was familiar with the ideas of the Naturphilosophie or nature philosophy which contained elements of esotericism such as Swedenborgianism, theosophy and pantheism. Routinely, histories of educational thought, along with histories of ideas in general, have sought to use the notion of influence to explain how an individual came to hold the ideas and beliefs they did. Historical interpretation then becomes a journey of exploration that follows ideas to their supposed original source. An alternative, more fruitful approach, adopted by Quentin Skinner [1] is to look at not only what an author wrote but at what an they were trying to do when they wrote what they did. In turn, this requires attention to be paid to the intellectual context they wrote in and the conversations they were joining and contributing to. This is the approach that informs the links which explore the question, who did Froebel read?

[1] Tully, J. (1988). The pen is a mighty sword: Quentin Skinner's analysis of politics. Meaning and Context. J. Tully. Oxford, Polity.

Froebel's religious beliefs and those of many of his followers were unorthodox. Religious dissent has often been associated with political radicalism and many of his followers were also radical in their political and social beliefs. Two of his nephews, Julius and Karl Froebel illustrate this point well.

If you want to know more, the Froebel Web provides extensive information and links about Froebel and the kindergarten.

The main collection of documents relating to Froebel and the Froebel movement in England is at the Froebel Archive for Childhood Studies which is at Roehampton University.

If you read German this site of the leading Froebel scholar, Prof. Helmut Heiland will be of interest.