Westfälisches Schulmuseum
How to find us:
- Street
- An der Wasserburg 1
- Zip, City
- 44379 Dortmund
- Country
- Germany
- Phone
- 0231 613095
- Fax
- -
- Web
- http://www.dortmund.de/de/freizeit_und_kultur/museen/westfaelisches_schulmuseum/startseite_schulmuse
Description
As a place for communicating the history of schooling, the Westfälisches Schulmuseum in the Marten district of Dortmund preserves an extensive collection on the history of schools and teaching. The institution was founded in 1910; originally it served for the further training of teachers and the presentation of teaching materials. Today the museum is among the collections in Germany that are significant for the history of schooling.
The permanent exhibition spans around 500 years of school history and divides the development into five periods. It addresses the beginnings with the demand "... that children should be made to attend school", the Imperial era with the aim "... in order to counter the spread of socialist and communist ideas", the Weimar Republic with its criticism "... against the Lern- und Wortschule", the National Socialist period ("Blond und blauäugig...") as well as the post-war period after 1945, in which "education for a democratic way of life" was emphasized. Complementary special exhibitions direct attention to the beginnings of girls' education, to teaching and learning materials and arithmetic textbooks, and to changes in school furniture.
The museum offers an extensive museum education programme; in an authentically preserved classroom from the early 20th century the everyday life of earlier school periods can be directly experienced. The collection ranges from the origins of schooling in church and monastic schools to modern teaching materials. The school building is listed as a historic monument in Dortmund's register of monuments.