Over the last few years, a string of publications seems to suggest a persistent interest in Friedrich Fröbel, who is by most considered to be the inventor of the kindergarten, and whose seminal work Die Menschenerziehung (The Education of Man) (1826) will celebrate the 200th anniversary of its publication in 2026. The Bloomsbury Handbook to Friedrich Froebel, the Critical Introduction to key Themes and Debates or a new Fröbel biography from 2023 give the impression that a continued examination of Friedrich Fröbel remains academically justified. There might be different reasons for such ongoing efforts: on one hand, not nearly all works of Fröbel have yet been catalogued or explored; on the other hand, the international exchange remains limited or even problematic, e.g. considering missing modern translations of Fröbel’s texts which in their original form are not an easy read even for those who understand German. In light of those efforts, it has to be asked not only what Fröbel still can offer to those trying to solve modern pedagogical problems, but also how much of what is actually presented theoretically and practically as Fröbel-Pedagogy or Froebelian Pedagogy is indeed based on Fröbel, or how often it just repeats stereotypical assumptions that have been perpetuated over the centuries.

To mark the occasion of the anniversary of Die Menschenerziehung and to discuss the relevance of Fröbel for modern educational reflections, we invite expressions of interest to give a presentation in a workshop at the University of Strathclyde in March 2025. The full Call for Papers can be found here: Froebel – Experiments in Education Theory

For further inquiries: Karsten Kenklies (karsten.kenklies@strath.ac.uk) or Sebastian Engelmann (sebastian.engelmann@ph-karlsruhe.de).