The Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame Training Female Teachers in Prussia: Foreign Languages in Vechta’s Lehrerinnenseminar

Abstract

This article examines the Lehrerinnenseminar (normal school) in Vechta, a private teacher-training institution operated by the Sisters of Notre Dame (Schwestern Unserer Lieben Frau) from 1877 to 1926. Founded in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg yet closely tied to the Prussian educational system, the seminary trained both elementary school teachers and language teachers, and is characterised by the breadth and social diversity of its catchment area, drawing predominantly from the provinces of Westphalia and the Rhineland. Using the institutional chronicle, the enrolment register (1904–1926), and other archival material, this study attempts to reconstruct the role of modern foreign languages – above all French – within female teacher formation, as well as to describe the seminary’s diocese-based catchment area. Evidence shows that in addition to being aimed at teaching in public schools, foreign-language study was regarded as professional credential for private employment: at least 1,039 women were trained at Vechta, all taking French at first-level examination and some qualifying for language teaching in the Höhere Mädchenschule. The example of the Vechta seminary confirms the importance of congregations in the expansion and professionalisation of girls’ schooling in late nineteenth- and early twentieth‑century Germany, until the nationalisation of teacher training in 1926 reconfigured the field.