Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the GDR
The Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the GDR (APW) in East Berlin existed from September 15, 1970 to December 31, 1990 as a non-university research institution for educational science issues. On the basis of Marxism-Leninism, it was supposed to scientifically accompany and promote the development of the “ unified socialist education system ” in the GDR. The seat was the building on Unter den Linden / Wilhelmstrasse of the former Prussian Ministry of Culture , right next to and connected to the new building from 1964 for the Ministry of Popular Education .
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Berlin%2C_Mitte%2C_Wilhelmstrasse%2C_Erweiterungsbau_des_Preussischen_Kultusministeriums.jpg/220px-Berlin%2C_Mitte%2C_Wilhelmstrasse%2C_Erweiterungsbau_des_Preussischen_Kultusministeriums.jpg)
history
The APW emerged in 1970 from the German Central Pedagogical Institute (DPZI), but was at the same time a new foundation with “decidedly political intentions (...), which was supposed to function as a so-called lead institution of educational sciences with generalizing and trend-setting claims”.
The academy was directly subordinate to the Ministry of Popular Education under Margot Honecker . From 1970 to December 1989, President of the APW was Gerhart Neuner , a member of the Central Committee of the SED and at the same time a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR . At the end of 1989 he was forced to resign by the institute's staff, and his successor was Hans-Jörg König until it was dissolved. The first vice-president was Hans Kaiser from 1970 to 1985, with Karl-Heinz Günther (until 1989) and Günter Wilms in the same position , followed in 1985 by Dieter Kirchhöfer .
The academy had 40 full and 30 corresponding members (plenary) as well as the right to award doctorates and habilitation. The GDR Council of Ministers appointed the president . The highest formal body was the Presidium, to which the minister, the president, the three vice-presidents, the general secretary and some representatives of the universities belonged by appointment, according to the Berlin pedagogue Helmut Klein . Other scientists and practitioners were involved through working groups and the scientific councils of the institutes. With her right to give instructions, the minister for popular education severely restricted the work through guidelines. The Secretary General was responsible for the planning, coordination and control of the scientific work: Hans Georg Hofmann at the beginning, from 1980 until his death in 1986 Gerhard Dietrich , from 1988 Bodo Rönsch . His activities focused primarily on the elaboration, accounting and implementation of the Academy's research plans, the perspective plan for educational research and the annual work plans. A Research Directorate was to control the research projects centrally, led by the Secretary General or, since 1985, by the President himself. The institutes and workplaces were subject to many restructuring and name changes, but consistently related almost exclusively to school education, not the entire spectrum of pedagogy. Editing the curricula and textbooks tailored to them was a central task of the APW.
Research institutions
There were u. a. The following research institutions, each with a director and a total of up to 900 scientific and scientific-technical employees (around 500 employees in 1970):
- Institute for Economics and Planning or (since 1980) management and organization of the popular education system (directly subordinate to the MfV, task of further training of school officials and leaders; head: Günter Wilms)
- Institute for Pedagogical Theory or (since 1981) Theory and History of Pedagogy ( Eberhard Meumann , Christine Lost)
- Institute for [Theory and Methodology of (Socialist)] Education
- Institute for Educational Psychology (Head: Adolf Kossakowski )
- Institute for Didactics (Head: Edgar Drefenstedt , Hans-Jörg König )
- Institute for Social Science Education (Head: Horst Riechert )
- Department of social science subjects (3 research groups: geography, history, civics)
- Department of Art and Aesthetics (3 research groups: theory, art education, music)
- Department of German Language and Literature (Hartmut Herrmann) (2 research groups: linguistics, literature)
- Institute for Mathematics and Science Education (Head: Karl-Heinz Weber, Peter Birnbaum)
- Institute for Polytechnic Education (Head: Heinz Frankiewicz) with handicraft classes , school garden classes , introduction to socialist production , technical symbols , productive work
- Institute for Foreign Language Teaching (Head: Klaus Günther, Herbert Utheß , Sabine Utheß )
- Institute for teaching materials
- Office for Lower School and Pre-School Education (since 1976) ( Ursula Drews )
- Center for special education (head to 1985: Lothar Hammer)
- Workplace for physical education
- Job for schools in the bilingual area ( Sorbian )
- Office for West German Education or (from 1974) Education Abroad (Hans Georg Hofmann)
- Office for German educational and school history (until 1981, head: Helmut König (1920–2005))
- Central office for educational information and documentation
- Pedagogical central library in the teacher's house in Berlin
The APW published “ Pedagogy ” (1950–1990) as well as “Pedagogical Research”, “Yearbook of the APW”, “Advice for Teachers” and the like. a. m.
Dissolution and documents
In the course of German unification, the APW was dissolved at the end of 1990 without evaluation because of its strong ideological orientation and ties to the MfV. Approx. 15 percent of the employees worked for the state security . However, individual sections and collections, including the historically significant library of the former German Teachers' Association , were subsequently integrated into the German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF).
Achievements and conflicts
The APW was able to close gaps in the history of education in the areas of national educational plans during the revolution of 1848/49 , the democratic tradition of the teachers' movement, the utopian traditions and the like. a. m. The Central Institute for Youth Research (ZIJ) in Leipzig under Walter Friedrich had existed outside the APW since 1966 with an empirical research approach. The reports were treated as secret documents because they often contradicted the APW's embellished image. These included the youthful right-wing radicalism in the GDR or the risk of alcohol. The Department of Sociology of Education in the Institute for Pedagogical Theory of the APW also described as early as 1978 that the school was experienced as unfair, that the political goals were hardly implemented, and that the pioneer leaders were not confidants. Until the end of the GDR this was only treated confidentially.
The academy also acted as the publisher of educational films for general schools in the GDR and took on tasks in this context that are comparable to those of the Institute for Film and Image in Science and Education (FWU) in the Federal Republic.
In addition to school pedagogy , general pedagogy was of little importance. The basis of education should be the Marxist-Leninist image of man and society and evaded pedagogical self-determination. In particular, it was hardly asked what effect the school had on the adolescents passing through in the long term and whether the established educational program (curriculum) was consistent with the subjective needs of the adolescents. Self-reflection was not wanted, which President Neuner was watching over.
Awards
- 1989 Karl Marx Order
literature
- On the history of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the GDR . Acquired and zsgest. by a collective of authors led by Eberhard Meumann. APW der DDR, Institute for Theory and History of Education, Berlin 1989
- Wolfgang Eichler / Christa Uhlig: The Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the GDR , in: Journal for Pedagogy 30. Supplement. Transformations in the German educational landscape. Learning process with an uncertain outcome , Beltz, Weinheim Basel 1993, pp. 115–126 online
- Sonja Häder, Ulrich Wiegmann (Ed.): The Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the GDR in the field of tension between science and politics . Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-631-56340-3
- Andreas Malycha: The Academy of Pedagogical Sciences (APW) of the GDR. Function and structure of a scientific institution under Education Minister Margot Honecker 1970–1990 . In: Yearbook for historical educational research, 12 (2006), pp. 205–236.
- Andreas Malycha: The Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the GDR 1970–1990. On the history of a science institution in the context of state educational policy (= contributions to the history of science in the GDR. Series C. Studies 1). Leipzig 2009. ISBN 978-3-931982-55-3
- Ulrich Wiegmann: Agents - Patriots - Western reconnaissance. State Security and Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the GDR . Berlin 2015. ISBN 978-3-86331-231-2
- Nicole Zabel: On the history of the German Central Pedagogical Institute of the GDR. An institutional history study , Diss. Chemnitz 2009 Zabel 2009 pdf
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Gert Geißler: Review of A. Malycha: Akademie PW (2009). In: www.hsozkult.de. 2010, accessed July 20, 2018 .
- ↑ DIPF conference ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 43 kB)
- ↑ Huge hatred builds up, in: Der Spiegel February 12, 1990
- ↑ Eichler / Uhlig: The Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the GDR, in: Journal for Pedagogy 30. Supplement. Transformations in the German educational landscape. Learning process with an uncertain outcome . In: Journal for Pedagogy . Supplement, No. 30 , 1993, pp. 115-126 .
- ↑ Collective of authors: General education and curriculum . Ed .: APW. People and Knowledge, Berlin 1987.
- ^ Andreas Malycha: The APW of the GDR: function and structure . In: Yearbook for Historical Educational Research . tape 12 , p. 223 .
- ^ Sorbian Institute. Retrieved July 22, 2018 .
- ^ Ulrich Wiegmann: Agents - Patriots - West Enlightenment: State Security and Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the GDR . Metropol, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-86331-231-2 .
- ↑ Heinz-Elmar Tenorth: Educational Science in Germany - Sketch from 1900 to 1990 , in Harney / Krüger: Introduction to the History of Educational Science and Educational Reality , Leske u. Budrich, 1997, pp. 134-146
- ↑ Neues Deutschland , June 13, 1989, p. 5
- ↑ Contents: Yearbook for Historical Educational Research, Volume 12. (PDF) Retrieved July 22, 2018 .