Giuseppe Lombardo Radice in the early 20th century : a rediscovery of his pedagogy

Giuseppe Lombardo Radice (1879-1938) was one of the main figures in Italian pedagogy in the first half of the 20th century and collaborated with the philosopher Giovanni Gentile on the 1923 reform of the Italian school system. However, his work 'for' and 'with' many elementary school teachers also left important and long-lasting traces beyond Italy's borders, in Switzerland, Spain, Central Europe, and the North Adriatic, thanks to his intense international contacts with several scholars, foremost among them Adolphe Ferrière and Lorenzo Luzuriaga.A rediscovery of Lombardo Radice will open up new research avenues in different fields of the History of Education, History of Elementary Schools, and History of Teacher Education, because his original thinking about the primacy of the educational relationship between teacher and pupils, a new concept of school discipline and his idea of the scuola serena also accorded him a unique role in the international movement of New School Education. Moreover, his research among previously unknown popular elementary schools in Italy and the Italian-speaking Tessin region in Switzerland adopted a heuristic perspective, comparable to current studies on the material culture of schools. Cover Table of Contents Introduction. The reasons for a rediscovery The first steps of the young Giuseppe Lombardo Radice Between public involvement and the discovery of new borders of educational research The aim and structure of the book Printed sources Section 1 The Italian Context The education of children in the Lombardo Radice household The pedagogical laboratory at Caronda street An anti-fascist education Giuseppe Lombardo Radice and the National Association for the Interests of the Italian Mezzogiorno (1910–1938) The political persecution of Giuseppe Lombardo Radice by the fascist regime (1924–1931) The resignation from the Direzione generale dell’Istruzione elementare e popolare and the gradual departure from Gentile Lombardo Radice became a person under ‘special political surveillance’ Giuseppe Lombardo Radice and physical education in elementary schools The originality of Lombardo Radice’s contribution to physical education in Italian elementary schools The Lezioni di didattica of 1913 The question of national education and the Ente Nazionale per l’Educazione Fisica The physical education programmes of 1923 Concluding remarks Printed sources Giuseppe Lombardo Radice anti-Montessorian The comments from 1921 ‘Montessori yes, but without Montessorism’ Anti-montessorism and politics The figure of the elementary teacher and headmaster in the thought of Giuseppe Lombardo Radice The representation of the elementary teacher between ‘mission’ and ‘collaboration’ The representation of the headmaster between ‘discipline’ and ‘collaboration’ Conclusion Section 2 The European Context Giuseppe Lombardo Radice and his reception in Spain in the first third of the 20th century1 Printed sources Giuseppe Lombardo Radice – Adolphe Ferrière. The contentious Swiss-Italian relationship and their disputes regarding New Education Introduction The Swiss-Italian relationship and their discussions on New Education A ‘corporation of silent teachers’ for Active Schools Giuseppe Lombardo Radice and the teachers’ network in Tessin: Tracing an ‘educational-cultural transfer’ through the pages of L’educatore della Svizzera italiana The first steps in Tessin Positively evaluating the scuole serene: Between critica didattica and new pedagogical paradigms The dissemination of the Pasquali-Agazzi method Latest achievements Printed sources Central European influences on Giuseppe Lombardo Radice’s concept of ‘national education’: His relations with Italian teachers in Austria-Hungary The discovery of Venezia Giulia’s schools The educational ideal and the national school Adriatic socialism To conclude About the Authors Giuseppe Lombardo Radice was one of the main figures in Italian pedagogy in the first half of the 20th century. He was part of the International New School Movement. His work ‘for’ and ‘with’ many elementary school teachers also left important and long-lasting traces beyond Italy’s borders in teacher training processes.