School Acts and the Rise of Mass Schooling

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. The History of School Acts

   • Johannes Westberg, Lukas Boser, Ingrid Brühwiler

   Pages 1-15

3. “Das Schulwesen aber ist und bleibet allezeit ein politicum”: The Felbiger General School Ordinance and School Reform in the Eighteenth-Century Habsburg Monarchy

   • Martin Viehhauser

   Pages 17-40

4. Schooling and the Administrative State: Explaining the Lack of School Acts in Nineteenth-Century Prussia

   • Marcelo Caruso, Daniel Töpper

   Pages 41-66

5. E Pluribus Unum: One Swiss School System Based on Many Cantonal School Acts

   • Lukas Boser, Michèle Hofmann, Ingrid Brühwiler

   Pages 67-92

6. Education in a Nation Divided: The Contribution of School Acts to the Development of Dutch Mass Schooling in the Long Nineteenth Century

   • Jeroen J. H. Dekker, Hilda T. A. Amsing, Inge J. M. Wichgers

   Pages 93-118

7. Good and Righteous People and Useful Citizens of the State: The Danish 1814 School Acts and the Rise of Mass Schooling in Denmark

   • Christian Larsen

   Pages 119-144

8. Citizens in Their Right Place: Nation Building and Mass Schooling in Nineteenth-Century France

   • Sébastien-Akira Alix

   Pages 145-169

9. School Acts and Elementary Education in Nineteenth-Century Spain

   • Núria Mallorquí-Ruscalleda

   Pages 171-193

10. Basic Schools in Each and Every Parish: The School Act of 1842 and the Rise of Mass Schooling in Sweden

    • Johannes Westberg

    Pages 195-222Open Access

11. A Struggling Nation Since Its Founding? Liberal Italy and the Cost of Neglecting Primary Education

    • Gabriele Cappelli

    Pages 223-251

12. From the Top Down? Legislation and Public Initiative in Building a School System in Russia After the Great Reforms: 1855–1914

    • Ben Eklof

    Pages 253-276

13. The Constitution of 1867, Separate Schooling, and the Roots of Division in Canadian Public Education

    • Anthony Di Mascio

    Pages 277-300

14. The Elementary Education Act of 1870: Landmark or Transition?

    • David Mitch

    Pages 301-324

15. “Hidden” Governance or Counterfactual Case? The US Failure to Pass a National Education Act, 1870–1940

    • Nancy Beadie

    Pages 325-348

16. School Legislation, Mass Schooling, and Historiography

    • Daniel Tröhler

    Pages 349-372

17. Back Matter

    Pages 373-379

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This book examines school acts in the long nineteenth century, traditionally considered as milestones or landmarks in the process of achieving universal education. Guided by a strong interest in social, cultural, and economic history, the case studies featured in the book rethink the actual value, the impact, and the ostensible purpose of school acts. The thirteen national case studies focus on the manner in which school acts were embedded in their particular historical contexts, offering a comprehensive and multidisciplinary overview of school acts and the role they played in the rise of mass schooling. Drawing together research from countries across the West, the editors and contributors analyse why these acts were passed, as well as their content and impact. This seminal collection will appeal to students and scholars of school acts and the history of mass schooling.
Chapter 9 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com

• Mass Schooling
• School acts
• Educational legislation
• Schooling and the administrative state
• Education and nation building

• School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden

  Johannes Westberg

• School of Education, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Solothurn, Switzerland

  Lukas Boser

• Public Schools Department, Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Herisau, Switzerland

  Ingrid Brühwiler

Johannes Westberg is Professor of Education in the School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences at Örebro University, Sweden, and is a member of the editorial team of the Nordic Journal of Educational History.
 
Lukas Boser is Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern, Switzerland. 
 
Ingrid Brühwiler is Head of the Public School Department in Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland.

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