FREDRICH FROEBEL

Froebel, a German innovator who visited Pestalozzi’s school, is known as the founder of the kindergarten movement (Weber 1984). ‘Kindergarten” is the German word for “garden of children,” which exemplifies Froebel’s spiritual view of children; he thought of them as little plants that required nurturing and protecting before starting more formal schooling (Evans 1975). He thus emphasized the need for harmonious relationships between teachers and children. His curriculum was heavily child-centred with a focus on play, spiritual feelings, and self-directed activities, which created a pleasant environment for children.

Froebel’s curriculum included three forms of knowledge: (a) lie (e.g., gardening, animal care, and domestic tasks), (b) mathematics (e.g., geometry, pattern recognition), and (c) beauty (e.g., colour, musical harmony). To implement instruction in these forms of knowledge, Froebel designed two types of pedagogical tools: gifts and occupations. Gifts were concrete play materials; such as wooden cubes to build houses or geometric patterns that Froebel believed would awaken the child’s mental and spiritual powers. He classified occupations into four groups of media: solids, surfaces, lines, and points. Each of these employed malleable materials. Children handled clay and wood, for example, to explore solids, paper and paint to engage surfaces, and beads to investigate points. Drawing and weaving allowed children to explore lines. All were introduced in a sequence and as specific, teacher-directed activities (such weaving a mat with strips of paper). Although Froebel believed that children learned best by playing with the gifts and occupations, he had a very detailed and prescriptive approach to the way children should handle the materials in order to derive the desired concepts.

Froebel’s writings and school received much attention, and his ideas were implemented across Europe and North America. In Canada, Ontario was the leader in introducing kindergarten programs and by 1998, officially supported programs for four – and five-ear-olds in many public school (Corbett 1989). By the turn of the century, however, Froebelian ideas had become rather distorted and were implemented in a rigid formalized way by poorly trained teachers (Weber 1984). A reform movement began, influenced by a number of educators such as Maria Montessori and John Dewey. In Toronto, Ada Marian Hughes was a leading advocate of reform for Canadian programs. By the second world War, the beginnings of change were apparent in kindergarten practice in Ontario; these were based on the new ideas of Dewey and Montessori, the free play movement (Borbett 1989), and new approaches developed at the Institute of Child study at the University of Toronto. In sum, Froebel’s ideas and pedagogical materials certainly did not disappear, but the kindergarten curriculum became more flexible and encouraged more self-directed, free-play activities by the children. Froebel’s long term influence on early childhood education is seen in the use of concrete materials and in the notions that children learn through play and active involvement in a warm, happy atmosphere; that the developmental stage of the child should be taken into account; and finally, that kindergarten is the bridge between home and formal schooling. These ideas have become the foundation for Canadian kindergartens, as well as for the establishment of junior kindergartens for four-year-olds.