From savages to capitalists: progressive images of education in the UK and the USA (1920-1939)

One strand of historical research in education that sails on the waves of the visual turn in history concerns the progressive image of education. A major reference point is an article written in 2007 by Burke and Grosvenor, who, on the basis of the photographic archives of two progressive schools in England, constructed a visual typology of progressive education. After a content analysis of 944 images published in the educational journal The New Era and 1827 images in Progressive Education in the period 1920-1939, it is concluded that this typology is partly adequate for describing a common image of new education in the UK and progressive education in the USA. But it should be extended with two more elements: (a) urban discovery and nature exploration, and (b) cultural-historical representations and recapitulation. In the latter children are first portrayed as 'primitive savages' who later become little bankers and shopkeepers in a capitalist economy.