Studii și Materiale de Istorie Contemporană, vol. XXIII, 2024

Camelia ZAVARACHE, Şcoala Normală Superioară: de la modelul francez la „unealta vechiului regim” carlist [The Superior Normal School: From the French Model to the “Tool of the Old Regime”]

The full text is available on CEEOL/ Textul integral al studiului poate fi accesat prin CEEOL: https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1327791 

The article explores two dimensions of teacher training in interwar Romania: the importance of this policy in the politics of culture promoted by the state; and, its centrality to the political education of the youth promoted by successive political regimes. The Superior Normal Schools and the University Pedagogical Seminars were institutions considered outdated by teaching professionals and the political elite due to scientific reasons and the poor performances of early career teachers. The new model of Superior Normal School implemented in 1938 was the direct result of the multidisciplinary research on education that sociologist Dimitrie Gusti had coordinated five years prior during his tenure as Minister of the Public Instruction. However, once the Iron Guard seized power, Gusti’s collaboration with Carol II’s authoritarian regime seemingly justified the labelling by new authorities of the Superior Normal School as a „political tool” of the former royal dictatorship. 

Keywords: Superior Normal Schools, pedagogical training, Dimitrie Gusti, higher education, youth policies.