The Educational Film between Politics and School Instruction: The Introduction and Impact of a New Educational Media in International Perspective, 1918-1939
Modern and Contemporary History
Final Report Abstract
The project ‘Der Lehrfilm in der Zwischenkriegszeit. Deutschland, Frankreich und Italien im Vergleich’ (Educational Films in the Inter-war Period: A Comparison between Germany, France and Italy) is a tri-national comparison that examined discourses, practices and cooperation in the period between 1918 and 1939. The study posed a number of questions that helped us consider the educational film in its historical, pedagogical and political contexts. Among these were an examination of: (1) the argumentation strategies which were developed when this new educational media was introduced and the individuals or organisations that were involved; (2) how the films as visual educational media can be contextualised within the individual national education cultures; (3) what significance the educational film had for the production and popularisation of knowledge and whether educational media concepts became more influential in comparison with traditional text-based teaching materials, such as textbooks; and finally (4) the issue of trans-national networking in the field of educational films, which was particularly encouraged by the League of Nations in the 1920s and 1930s. Based on extensive source material, which was viewed and evaluated in archives in Geneva, Paris, Rome, Florence, Strasbourg, Koblenz and Berlin, three sub-studies reconstruct the history of educational films. An important element, on one hand, was an exploration of the pedagogic, political and technical conditions surrounding the introduction of educational films in the Weimar Republic and during the period of National Socialist rule. In order to illustrate the diachronic and synchronous development of the discussion in all three countries, the new media of educational film was compared with the conventional media of textbooks. The topic of colonialism, which was taught as part of the German, French and Italian history and geography curricula, was used as a thematic point of comparison. A second study analysed the epistemological and pedagogical discourse in France and Italy, on the other hand, to ascertain its political objectives. The Third Republic and fascist Italy both utilised the new media of educational films in lessons and attempted to use the vivid moving images to politically influence their citizens. Educational films that addressed colonialism were frequently employed in this way. The third sub-study addressed the constitution of transnational educational spaces through international cooperation in the field of educational films. The League of Nations saw educational films as an opportunity to impart knowledge to school pupils across international boundaries, to inform them about the world and to subsequently make a wider contribution to international understanding. Schools were to be transformed into peace-oriented institutions with the help of educational films. The project contributes to the reconstruction of historical educational discourse and expanded the historical and cultural science-oriented fields of media change and educational media research, which are of particular relevance given the current debates surrounding the application possibilities for digital media in lessons.
Publications
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Das Für und Wider neuer Bildungsmedien. Der Schulfunk in der Zwischenkriegszeit, in: Rundfunk und Geschichte, 3-4 (2016), S. 24-35
Annegarn-Gläß, Michael
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Educational Film Studies. A Burgeoning Field of Research, in: Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society 8:1 (2016), S. 120-129
Bruch, Anne
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Introduction. Educational Films. A Historical Review of Media Innovations in School, in: Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society 8:1 (2016), S. 1-13
Fuchs, Eckhardt; Bruch, Anne; Annegarn-Gläß, Michael
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The German Colonies in ‚Die Weltgeschichte als Kolonialgeschichte‘. The Use of Filmic Techniques in Colonial Revisionism in the 1920s, in: Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society 8:1 (2016), S. 14-29
Annegarn-Gläß, Michael
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‚Meglio di ieri‘. Educational Films, National Identity and Citizenship in Italy from 1948 to 1968, in: Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society 8:1 (2016), S. 78-90
Bruch, Anne
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‚Spotlight on the Colonies‘. Koloniale Informationsfilme in und über die britischen Kolonien in Afrika nach 1945, in: Wissen in Bewegung. Migration und globale Verflechtungen in der Zeitgeschichte, hrsg. von Stephanie Zloch, Lars Müller und Simone Lässig, Berlin – Boston 2018, S. 197-212
Bruch, Anne
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Europäische Initiativen im Lehrfilmbereich und Schulfernsehen als Herausforderung für die Darstellung Europas im Unterricht, in: Europa und Bildungsmedien – Europe and Educational Media, (Beiträge zur historischen und systematischen Schulbuch- und Bildungsmedienforschung), hrsg. von Annemarie Augschöll Blasbichler, Eva Matthes und Sylvia Schütze, Bad Heilbrunn 2019, S. 275-284
Bruch, Anne; Sammler, Steffen
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Koloniales Wissen in deutschen Schulbüchern und Lehrfilmen der Zwischenkriegszeit, in: Geschichtsunterricht, Identitätspolitik vom Kalten Krieg bis in die Gegenwart. Geschichtsbücher und ihr gesellschaftlicher Kontext, hrsg. von Robert Schweitzer, Uta-Maria Liertz, Norderstedt 2020, S. 85-104
Annegarn-Gläß, Michael
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La escuela del future. El rol educativo de la propaganda en los documentales fascistas italianos, in: Totalitarismos europeos, propaganda y educatión. Una historia visual desde los NO-DO, hrsg. von Eulàlia Collelldemont und Conrad Vilanou, Gijón 2020, S. 261-274
Bruch, Anne
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Neue Bildungsmedien revisited. Zur Einführung des Lehrfilms in der Zwischenkriegszeit, (Beiträge zur historischen und systematischen Schulbuch- und Bildungsmedienforschung), Bad Heilbrunn 2020
Annegarn-Gläß, Michael
