Introduction: form matters

Abstract

Writing (and its shape in particular) is given attention in this special issue in order to analyze multi-layered challenges of modern schooling, ranging from pedagogical to ideological and national ones. Focus is given to writing systems (including the aspect of graphic design), writing ideologies, writing practices and the role they play in the complex social construction and representations of national, regional, cultural, and individual identities. The authors contributing to this special issue analyze when and why nations, institutions, or individuals decided or were forced to change writing systems, aiming to elucidate the cultural and educational implications of those reforms. In this vein, the articles included in this special issue also focus on the social, cultural, and historical embeddedness of writing and writing systems, and on the role that education in general and schooling in particular has played in this process.