ABSTRACT
This chapter presents five English government documents that are shown to have been influenced by Froebelian participants. Froebelian kindergarten practice is examined in some detail, and it is probably significant that Froebelian Susan Isaacs, Head of the Department of Child Development at the Institute of Education in the University of London, was a contributor. Froebel is given a great deal of attention and argued to be 'the first great educator on the continent who endeavoured to provide a coherent scheme of infant education'. His influence on infant education in England was not felt, even indirectly, till the early eighteen fifties. A quality Sunday newspaper warned that 'Adult success depends heavily on childhood self-image' going on to describe how both Richard Branson and Cherie Booth were able to overcome childhood difficulties in order to succeed in their adult lives because by the age of 10 they had developed self-esteem.
