The purpose of the study is to analyse Herbartianism from its philosophical, ethical and educational roots in the german speaking parts of Central Europe, and to analyse the dissemination of Herbartianism to Finland. The latter part of the purpose is the main focus in the study. Evenifthisisthe focus, comparisions are done concerning the herbartian influence in other countries. One important comparison is the one between Sweden and Finland. The Herbartianism was strongly related to teacher education. In line with that observation the dissemination of the herbartian pedagogy and didactic into academic teaching and teacher training has been one major area for the analyses. In order to characterize the essence of Herbartianism has the foregoing movements within education, neo-humanism, and the following movement, progressivism, been treated. The form and content of Herbartianism has changed, from the mid of the 1900 century, when it can be characterized as an educational philosophy, to a basis for didactics at the end of the century. But still during the first decades of this century main herbartian principles remained in curricula. These principles for the construction of curricula and the methods of teaching is a firm pedagogical-didactical system. The strength lies in its firmness, which can be seen as one explanation of why it was established in teacher education. It gave a solid and systematic basis for the training of teachers. The same explanation can, however, be used as one explanation to why it wades out in the beginning of this century. New demands on education was to be responded to by pragmatic criterias for curriculum construction and the understanding of learning and cognition changed with the development of psychology. But still it can be argued that herbartian elements structure conceptions of education as a science and as a practice.