In the late 19^th and early 20^th century, educators all over the world rethought traditional pedagogic approaches and engaged in the development and implementation of new educational ideas and practices. Reforms in teacher education and school teaching, in adult and early childhood education where linked to both (1) the implementation of educational sciences and (2) an increasing impact of pedagogical positions and motives that are generally attributed to schools and movements of progressive education (Hofstetter/Schneuwly 2006; Hofstetter 2010, Koerrenz 2014). Although the institutionalization of new educational approaches and structures normally took place on a national level and differed from country to country, they have not developed independently from each other (Caruso 2014; Droux/Hofstetter 2014). In fact, national educational reforms have been significantly influenced by transnational discourses and cross-border contacts between educators of different professional levels and backgrounds (Ibid.; Oelkers 2010). Nevertheless, when it comes to describing networks that have connected these educators and to identifying the countries and individuals involved, there is still a considerable need for research. The inner structures and dynamics of historical transnational educational networks are not easily to be accessed by conventional sources like e.g. academic publications. They primarily reflect official academic discourses, opinions or practices. Thus, they do not show much more than the tip of the iceberg. To scientifically approach such network structures as a whole, one should resort to sources that (a) directly prove and illustrate edges and knots of such networks and that (b) mirror uncensored positions of individuals involved. Sources that fulfil such demands are, e.g., correspondence documents that have been exchanged within the networks in question. Unfortunately not many pedagogical correspondence legacies are handed down and if they have survived, only a few of them are accessible for scientific research. 

One of the rare examples of such a comprehensive source corpus is the pedagogical correspondence of Wilhelm Rein (1847-1929). Wilhelm Rein, the first ordinary professor for pedagogy in Germany, was one of the internationally most influential educationalists and teacher educators of his time. He was involved in several transnational professional networks in the overlap of various scholarly schools, ideologies and discourses (Pohl 1972; Graff/Schotte 2009; Grundig de Vazquez 2015). His correspondence legacy dates from the early 1870s to the late 1920s and includes more than 6.000 letters from more than 3.500 senders of at least 41 countries from over the world. These documents make accessible to a great extent an influential international educational network that has connected teachers, teacher students and some of the most important educators, pedagogues and educational reformers of the time. They reproduce relevant details of the transnational development of education and the general coeval political, social and cultural conditions that have influenced this development. Moreover, they point to a theoretical and discursive transnational pedagogic exchange, which has taken place within a stress field of progressiveness and cosmopolitanism on the one hand and traditionalism and nationalism on the other hand. Thus, it also offers references to today’s stress fields of international communication and exchange.

This contribution wants to present a project in progress that aims on a searchable free access online edition of Wilhelm Reins pedagogical correspondence legacy (https://www.uni-due.de/imperia/md/content/allgemeine-didaktik/wera_poster.jpg). The scientific relevance of the source material will be pointed out. Fundamental research results gained from the (a) network analysis (network structures; countries and individuals involved) and (b) content analysis of the source documents will be discussed. The presentation of content research will focus on three central topics: (1) the mutual influence of the development of progressive education and educational sciences, (2) early discourses on and the initiation of university didactics and (3) classroom and school life practices.

The project presented follows the hypothesis that national educational historiographies are still very much accentuated in the history of education (Caruso 2014; Droux/Hofstetter 2014). To understand better the dynamics that have brought forth today’s educational theories and systems and that have influenced commonalities and differences across countries and regions, an international pedagogical historiography has to be strengthened that sheds light on international discourses, contacts and networks. A transnational historiography of education is therefore both central research approach and central objective of the edition and analysis of the pedagogical correspondence of Wilhelm Rein. Against this background fundamental research results are gained by means of historical network analysis (Grunder et al. 2013; Düring et al. 2016), hermeneutic content analysis and the gathering of empirical data. Furthermore, in the course of the edition and preparation of the source documents for further research, the full texts of the original sources will be tagged (indexed) with regard to (1) places, (2) individuals and institutions involved and (3) content keywords.

Outcomes and research results of the project presented can be structured according to three aspects: 1 – Research infrastructure: The project will result into a multidimensional searchable bio-bibliographic open access online edition of the pedagogical correspondence of Wilhelm Rein. Thus a powerful tool for initiating and realizing further research on historical transnational educational networks will be offered. 2 – Network analysis: Fundamental knots and edges of some of the most influential transnational educational networks that have affected the development of today’s educational paradigms and systems will be identified and outlined. The core structures of these networks will be reconstructed and illustrated. 3 – Content analysis: The impact and central discourses of the networks named above will be outlined. It will be shown how transnational network structures supported manifold international efforts of and discourses on educational reform. Central (paradigms of) coeval approaches of rethinking and redesigning education (progressive education, educational science etc.) will be analysed according to their interlinkage and mutual influence. Thus (from the perspective of a transnational history of education and with regards to the timeframe investigated) the historiography of the development and reform of education itself will be rethought.

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