Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Introduction: Authority, Expertise and German Midwifery's Contribution to Debates of Nature versus Science
- 1 Expertise, Authority and the Written Record: An Overview of Midwives' Evolving Role in the Public Sphere
- 2 From Storchtanten to Gebildete Frauen: The Roots of Modern Professionalization
- 3 Birthing under the Swastika: Indoctrinating Midwives into the Nazi Pro-Natalist State
- 4 Strong Hands and Steady Demeanour: Identifying the Characteristics of an Ideal Midwifery Student
- 5 Babies, Bottles and Bureaucracy: Course Curriculum, World Views and Essential Knowledge for a Midwife
- 6 The Art and Science of Childbirth: Constructing Midwifery and Obstetrical Textbooks
- Conclusion: Modern Professional Midwifery
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
5 - Babies, Bottles and Bureaucracy: Course Curriculum, World Views and Essential Knowledge for a Midwife
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Introduction: Authority, Expertise and German Midwifery's Contribution to Debates of Nature versus Science
- 1 Expertise, Authority and the Written Record: An Overview of Midwives' Evolving Role in the Public Sphere
- 2 From Storchtanten to Gebildete Frauen: The Roots of Modern Professionalization
- 3 Birthing under the Swastika: Indoctrinating Midwives into the Nazi Pro-Natalist State
- 4 Strong Hands and Steady Demeanour: Identifying the Characteristics of an Ideal Midwifery Student
- 5 Babies, Bottles and Bureaucracy: Course Curriculum, World Views and Essential Knowledge for a Midwife
- 6 The Art and Science of Childbirth: Constructing Midwifery and Obstetrical Textbooks
- Conclusion: Modern Professional Midwifery
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Midwifery students receive their training in the midwifery school. They learn the skills of their profession from this midwifery textbook and obtain practical experience through the examination and care of pregnant women, those in labor, postpartum, and infants.
Prussian Midwifery Textbook, 1905In just a short time your big exam days for the midwives, as well as the pediatric nurses, will begin. Again this year we would like to send our regards to the promising newest generation of your profession via the now ‘traditional form’. [sic] With this they shall receive recognition ‘from outside’ [sic], on the successful completion of their exams, as well as the first contact to products which should hold interest for those serving in the field of infant care.
C. F. Ploucquet, GmbH & Co., Subsidiary, Liegelind GmbH & Co. Baby and Toddler ApparelFocusing primarily on three politically and ideologically distinct periods – the Third Reich, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) – this chapter examines the curricula used to train modern midwifery students within the institutionalized framework of the new midwifery schools. As in the previous chapter, this one steps outside a strictly chronological narrative to discuss specific thematic topics and how these changed over time. As seen elsewhere within German midwifery, the selection and content of educational units reflect broader social issues dominating the respective periods. Midwives' training was, and remains, not only about technical knowledge; it was also about social knowledge. Students were expected to become proficient in delivering babies but also in guiding new mothers in the ways of the larger society. Whether promoting bottle-feeding over breastfeeding following incentives from formula firms or understanding their place within state ideology, modern midwifery education took on political as well as social aspects.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Modern German Midwifery, 1885–1960 , pp. 121 - 144Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014