Development of the concept of general education: A theoretical comparison between Wilhelm von Humboldt and Wolfgang Klafki's central theses

The term ‘general education’ is on everyone's lips, but it is usually used in the wrong context. This paper takes a closer look at the theories of Wilhelm von Humboldt and Wolfgang Klafki. They examined the concept of general education in depth and developed proposals aimed at reforming the education system to such an extent that general education can be integrated into the curriculum. Reference is also made to the Austrian curriculum, as it was revised in 2023. The results show that there is no uniform definition of the term general education. Although general educational content is taught in the curriculum, it is not labelled as such. Due to the outdated nature of the term general education, there are considerations to abolish the term in its original form and completely redefine it.