Albert Anker
Exam at the Village School, 1862
New laws concerning school education enforced compulsory attendance and introduced school examinations that were officially supervised. The canton of Bern commissioned Albert Anker to document such an event in 1862, resulting in a painting that the canton paid 3,000 francs for. The image features a teacher demonstrating his pedagogical skills as well as pupils following the lesson attentively, while the examination officials (school inspectors, local clergy, mayor, school governor, local councilors, local residents) look on. The school has been decorated with garlands and flowers for the important occasion and the pupils are dressed in their best clothes. Slate blackboards are being used that were produced at the slate works in Frutigen and which had been present in classrooms since the 1830s. The first elementary school law of 1835 enabled the revolutionary liberal idea of equal education for boys and girls to be explicitly implemented. Mixed-gender teaching was to be carried out throughout the canton. The knitting basket, which stands somewhat forlorn next to the rear school bench, is an indication that handicrafts were also to be part of the curriculum (from 1864), as part of the girl’s gender-specific education.