'JAHRESBERICHTEN' AS A SOURCE FOR THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION (EXAMPLE OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL REPORTS IN THE 19TH CENTURY EAST PRUSSIA) (Polish title below)

(Polish title: 'Jahresberichten' jako zrodlo do historii edukacji (na przykladzie sprawozdan wschodniopruskich szkol srednich z XIX wieku)). One of the most important tasks of the Prussian secondary schools, reformed in the years 1808-1812, was the publication of annual school reports. That type of documents is of early modern origin but these were the Prussian authorities that through a series of regulations gave them during the 19th century a unified character. The purpose of this article is to characterize that type of source and evaluate its significance for historical-educational research on the example of the 19th century secondary school reports in the province of East Prussia. The first step is to emphasize the opportunity of getting to know, thanks to those publications, some of the scholar achievements of secondary school teachers, as a scientific treatise, written by one of them, was supposed to be an integral part of school reports. These dissertations allow us to get acquainted not only with the views of teachers on the issues of pedagogy, but also to become familiar with the research on the regional history as well as the history of individual schools. Equally important to the education historian is the second essential part of school reports, comprising information about schools (Schulnachrichten), the material covered, teaching methods, modes of teaching, students' number, origin and confession as well as teachers' records. The school reports do not reflect all the aspects of Prussian school in the 19th century and an education historian, seeking to obtain a more complete picture, has to look for informations in other sources such as daily newspapers, science magazines, correspondence, memoirs or other archival documents. There is no doubt that the printed reports constitute a primary source of the history of male secondary education in the 19th century Prussia. They contribute greatly to the state of knowledge on legal, cultural and social aspects of the history of education.