«Like Air Bricks on Earth»: Notes on Developing a Research Agenda Regarding the Post-War Legacy of New Education

Abstract

This article presents the building blocks of a new research agenda through which the author aims to fill a gap in the existing scholarship on the history of new education in Belgium and its international links. In particular, the War years and the decades immediately following the Second World War remain un(der)explored. Since the author has only just begun to tackle this research agenda, the article presents preliminary thoughts, questions, and a critical reflection on issues related to developing such an agenda. It does this in a programmed way. The article is built on a review of the research that the author has already undertaken on the history of new education, on Ovide Decroly in particular, in search of the elements he considers equally important for a study of the post-War period. The article is organised into two main sections, focusing on the dimensions of space and time, respectively. The article distinguishes the Epoch of new education from the recuperation of the new education legacy through appropriation processes in the post-War period; it discusses the need for a transnational dimension and calls for international collaboration; moreover, it introduces the notion of contemporariness as a concept for critical assessment of the post-War legacy of new education.