Seminar: The Image of the Teacher: Pedagogy and Medieval Literature
A Seminar course for MA students. ¨
Contrary to the perception of subsequent eras that the medieval period was dark and ignorant, the middle ages in England saw numerous educational initiative and innovations. The first attempt at enforced universal education was made by King Alfred in the 9th century; the roots of the University of Oxford can be traced to the 11th century; the first schools for publicly educating the poor were founded in the 14th century. Formal teaching was in the hands of the church, and education and religion were inextricably linked; but informal educational methods were also important – mothers were enjoined to teach their daughters to read, for example.
How were learning processes conceived? What did people understand to be the role of the teacher? What were the relative roles in education of Latin and the vernacular? Evidence will be drawn from texts both literary and non-literary: educational treatises, but also plays and poems in which teachers are presented, sometimes as comical figures, sometimes as figures of almost divine authority.
- Docente: Elisabeth Dutton