Levana's Pedagogical Experiment (1856-1866). Historical Contexts and Foundations of its Theory of (Special) Education ('Heilpaedagogik')

• Applicant: Dr. Christian Stöger
• Subject Area: General Education and History of Education
• Term: from 2018 to 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 392229516

The project intends to trace the history and expound the theory of education of Levana (1856 - 1865), an Austrian institute pioneering the education of children with special needs, which in some recent research has been interpreted as an early attempt at 'inclusive education'. Both, Levana's theory of education and its educational practice are deemed seminal achievements in the history of special education. The preeminent work 'Die Heilpaedagogik' (1861/63) published by the directors of the institute, Jan Daniel Georgens and Heinrich Deinhardt (written by Deinhardt alone) is the first attempt at the foundation of special education as a scientific disciplin. While praised for its reflectiveness - the work combines educational studies with social, economic and political analyses - , it prompted mostly complaints about the author's idiosyncratic linguistic style. In view of the primary texts' virtual inaccessibility, it is surprising that until now little reliable research has been conducted on the biblio-biographical dimension of the Levana project and its institutional development. Based on newly discovered source material, those fundamental tasks shall be carried out now. Building on that work, the theoretical writings on school reform and the foundation of special education may be analysed in their various communicative contexts. The primary objective is to uncover both the social theory and philosophical anthropology implicit in those writings. As a result, it would be possible to shine a new light on the academic controversies surrounding the historiographic localisation and interpretation of the remarkable pedagogical experiment Levana embodied.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria