This book examines school acts in the long nineteenth century, traditionally considered as milestones or landmarks in the process of achieving universal education. Guided by a strong interest in social, cultural, and economic history, the case studies featured in the book rethink the actual value, the impact, and the ostensible purpose of school acts. The thirteen national case studies focus on the manner in which school acts were embedded in their particular historical contexts, offering a comprehensive and multidisciplinary overview of school acts and the role they played in the rise of mass schooling. Drawing together research from countries across the West, the editors and contributors analyse why these acts were passed, as well as their content and impact. This seminal collection will appeal to students and scholars of school acts and the history of mass schooling.Chapter 9 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com

Johannes Westberg is Professor of Education in the School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences at Örebro University, Sweden, and is a member of the editorial team of the Nordic Journal of Educational History. Lukas Boser is Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern, Switzerland.  Ingrid Brühwiler is Head of the Public School Department in Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland.

Chapter 1. Introduction - The History of School Acts; Johannes Westberg, Lukas Boser and Ingrid Brühwiler.- Chapter 2. "Das Schulwesen aber ist und bleibet allezeit ein politicum:" The Felbiger General School Ordinance and School Reform in the Eighteenth-Century Habsburg Monarchy; Martin Viehhauser.- Chapter 3. Schooling and the administrative state: Explaining the lack of school acts in nineteenth-century Prussia; Marcelo Caruso and Daniel Töpper.- Chapter 4. E Pluribus Unum: One Swiss School system based on many Cantonal School Acts; Lukas Boser, Michèle Hofmann, Ingrid Brühwiler.- Chapter 5. Education in a Nation Divided: The Contribution of School Acts to the Development of Dutch Mass Schooling in the Long Nineteenth Century; Jeroen J.H Dekker, Hilda T.A. Amsing and Inge J.M. Wichgers.- Chapter 6. Good and righteous people and useful citizens of the state: The Danish 1814 school acts and the rise of mass schooling in Denmark; Christian Larsen.- Chapter 7. Citizens in their Right Place: Nation Building and Mass Schooling in Nineteenth-Century France; Sébastien-Akira Alix.- Chapter 8. School Acts and Elementary Education in Nineteenth Century Spain; Núria Mallorqui Ruscalleda.- Chapter 9. Basic schools in each and every parish: The school act of 1842 and the rise of mass schooling in Sweden; Johannes Westberg.- Chapter 10. A struggling nation since its founding? Liberal Italy and the cost of neglecting primary education; Gabriele Cappelli.- Chapter 11. From the top down? Legislation and public initiative in building a school system in Russia after the Great Reforms: 1855-1914; Ben Eklof.- Chapter 12. The Constitution of 1867, separate schooling, and the roots of division in Canadian Public Education; Anthony di Mascio.- Chapter 13. The Elementary Education Act of 1870: Landmark or Transition?; David Mitch.- Chapter 14. 'Hidden' Governance or Counterfactual Case? The U.S. failure to pass a National Education Act, 1870-1940; Nancy Beadie.- Chapter 15. Forming the national body and framing the national minds: Constitutions, nation states, and the school laws in the long 19th century in Europe; Daniel Tröhler.