Pädagogik in Österreich

The first volume of this handbook “designed to contain 3 volumes” was hailed by the professional press as an authoritative work of european history of education: setting new standards by its unsparing analysis and making an absorbing read. The second volume treats the history of pedagogics at the Universities of Graz and Innsbruck up to the present day, and at the University of Prague from 1771 to 1945. As in the first volume, dedicated to the University of Vienna, the rise of pedagogics from a wretched minor subject to an overcrowded main subject is shown in the light of the teaching personnel. All persons who taught pedagogics are considered. With which previous training and by which career have they become lecturers and professors? How did they interpret their subject and what did they achieve? In the expansion of pedagogics as an academic subject, what role did the faculties play, the ministry of education, the politicians? Which expectations were raised and which results were achieved? This critical review might help all those interested in and responsible for educational policy.