The image of Switzerland as an antifascist stronghold has played a vital role in the country’s post-war self-perception. Still, Switzerland did have its very own authoritarian fascist movements; the so-called Fronten. Whereas they approved of some Swiss particularities, namely multilingualism and federalism, the installation of an “authoritarian democracy”, a corporative economic order, and a homogenous Volksgemeinschaft were aims Swiss fascists shared with their counterparts all over Europe and the U.S. Neither historical nor educational research have remarked upon the extraordinarily strong involvement of educators – teachers and educational scientists – in these movements’ leadership, or considered the programmatic literature on education they authored. This paper fills this gap by studying the pedagogical ideas and practices of the protagonists of Switzerland’s main fascist organisation, the Nationale Front, at the peak of its popularity (1933–1938). To contribute to the comparative questions the symposium raises we focus on two aspects. Firstly, we ask if the shared goals of fascist educational experts and working groups resulted in a consistent set of educational theories, concepts, and reform plans. We argue that, despite the existence of a general ideological consensus regarding the role of schooling in fostering a healthy, homogenous, and disciplined people, the concrete measures envisioned to reach this aim vary. Additionally, differentiating them from those contemporary educational concepts not directed towards an authoritarian revolution is methodologically and theoretically challenging. Secondly, we focus on how these actors relate their societal-political visions to educational reforms. We find that they did not attribute schooling any role in pursuing a fascist revolution. Despite having several educators and educational administrators in their ranks, Swiss fascist ideologues did not plan to undermine present society by reforming schooling ‘from within’. They conceived schooling as an inherently conservative factor that was to be reformed ‘from above’ after the authoritarian revolution had come along.

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