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PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
Michele Lore
PESTALOZZI AND THE FOUNDATION OF ELEMENTARY AND POPULAR EDUCATION
Abstract
The article focuses on the innovative aspects ofPestalozzi's pedagogical concept, caught up in their strengths and weaknesses. What emerges is the profile of an educator who has contributed decisively to the affirmation of elementary and popular education.
Keywords pestalozzian institutes- natural education religious formation
1. The Pestalozzian institutes
The nineteenth century was crossed by profound cultural, social and political changes, which didn't fail to exert their influence in the educational field.
Among the major pedagogists of this era certainly must be remembered Johan Heinrich Pestalozzi.
Born January 12, 1746 in Zurich from a family originally from Lombardy, he was an orphan of a very young father and was educated by his mother, the housekeeper Babeli and his grandfather (1, c, pp. 1262).
These three figures, who lovingly took care of little Heinrich, were destined to exert a profound influence also on the elaboration of his pedagogical conception.
The impression of Rousseau's works, and in particular the exaltation of life en plein air, would have aroused in Pestalozzi. Even the youthful militancy in the ranks of the Swiss patriots and the physiocratic theories then in vogue in Europe were destined to have a profound effect on the education of Pestalozzi.
In fact, the physiocracy, founded by the French economist François Quesnay (2, c, pp. 1-270), proposed an economic model (with significant social and ethical-spiritual implications) based on the renewal of agricultural production, as opposed to the mercantilism of Colbert, focused on manufacturing and trade.
Theories that we find partly transfused in the first educational experience of Pestalozzi, who, in 1768, founded in Neuhof the first of its four institutes, focusing on agricultural activity (3, c, pp. 1-160).
The purpose was to offer the poorest boys a concrete opportunity for moral and social redemption, through a training program that included both elementary (reading, writing and counting) and professional education, with distinct paths for males and females. The former were directed to the cultivation of the fields, the second to the housework, as well as weaving and spinning, which represented an important integration of the poor Swiss domestic economy.
Innovative, Pestalozzi was also about educational tools, which, given the scarcity of economic resources, were largely objects of daily life.
Despite the good intentions, however, Neuhof was forced to close after a few years due to poor management. The disappointment of the Swiss pedagogist was great, also because all family substances were lost in the enterprise, except for the house on the estate.
- elementary education - popular education - ethical-
Fortunately, his wife Anna Schulthess stayed close to him, offering him comfort at the critical moment.
On the reverse there followed a long period of fruitful meditation, from which came the famous pedagogical novel entitled Lienhard und Gertrud, set in the Swiss countryside (4, c, pp. 1-496).
Protagonist, indeed a true heroine is Gertrude, a devoted wife and a loving mother. Lienhard, her husband, is a humble laborer who has fallen into the network struck by the mayor-host Hummel, who attracts the villagers into his tavern to make them indebt and keep them in their hands.
Faced with her husband's misadventure, Gertrude decides to turn both to the spiritual authority, incarnated by the pastor, and to the civil authority, represented by the castellan. The joint work of the two manages to redeem the community materially and morally from abjection, leading to the arrest of the corrupt Hummel, who, tried, will admit his faults, in part returning them to the bad education received both at home and at school.
The impulse of social renewal is accomplished in the foundation of an elementary school, entrusted to an army officer at rest, Gluphi, who takes as a pedagogical model to inspire precisely the education given by Gertrude to his children.
The themes that emerge from this work, destined to a wide echo over time, are numerous. First of all, the centrality of the female figure in education, to which Pestalozzi ends up giving an almost mystical color.
Then the firm conviction that only the close collaboration of spiritual authorities and civil authorities can guarantee the good administration and prosperity of the communities.
Another fundamental topic is the need to guarantee an elementary education for all to ensure adequate integration into the community and decent work.
In Lienhard und Gertrud, the whole spiritual world of Pestalozzi is contained, which wasn't a great theorist, partly because he didn't possess the appropriate preparation to grasp the most complex conceptions of his time, but was animated by great and sincere love for the humble, in favor of the what his generous work as an educator profused.
In Europe overwhelmed and renewed by the Napoleonic companies, Pestalozzi is again at the head of
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an educational institute in Stanz (5,c, pp. 1-38). Without any support and forced to provide for itself the administrative and educational needs of about eighty orphans, he took advantage, with encouraging results, of the innovative method of mutual teaching.
From this experience, in 1801 another significant pedagogical work in the form of an epistle would be born, entitled Wie Gertrud ihre Kinder lehrt (6,c, pp. 1-281).
The short experience of Stanz, which lasted a few months, followed that of Burgdorf, in which the latter found himself placed in a well-organized context. In less than five years, however, even the experience of Burgdorf, after ups and downs, ended.
Like the two previous institutes, the third one also inspired Pestalozzi a pedagogical reflection, which took the form of the A B C der Anschauung (7, c, vol. I, pp. 1-84 e vol. II, pp. 1-148).
The time was ripe for the birth of the fourth and last Pestalozzian institute, destined to leave the most enduring trace in the history of pedagogy.
In 1805 Pestalozzi assumed the direction of the Yverdun Institute, which initially experienced a period of authentic flowering, allowing the Swiss pedagogist to fully express his educational genius. The institute was visited by many of the most brilliant exponents of European culture (Capponi, Fichte, Froebel, Herbart) who expressed themselves in terms of heartfelt admiration.
After about twenty years, however, the usual administrative problems, aggravated by the disputes that arose between the collaborators of Pestalozzi, led to the closure of Yverdun.
The elderly pedagogist, after a whole life spent in favor of elementary and popular education, retired to Neuhof, home of his first institute, where he waited for the drafting of a work in which biographical memories intertwine with considerations on experiences of educator, from the significant title the Schwanengesang (8, c, pp. 1-244). Pestalozzi died in 1827.
2. The idea of education
As one of the greatest exponents of German idealism pointed out, Fichte, although sincere admirer of the Swiss pedagogist, the theoretical dimension in Pestalozzi is rather weak.
Nonetheless, the authors of Lienhard und Gertrud must be recognized with great merit in innovating the European educational system. He isn't only remembered for having founded elementary and popular education, but also, more generally, for his pedagogical conception, at the center of which there are three fundamental "forces": mind, heart and hand (or art).
They represent the potentialities of the cultivated man in their entirety and organicity: intellect, ethics and practical skills. Rightly, Pestalozzi stresses that any educational intervention cannot be separated from any of these three forces, because otherwise the development of the person remains partial and incomplete.
Here then, that in the education of the child no aspect should be left out, so that it can become a righteous man, able to take his place within society.
There is therefore an overcoming of the Rous-seauian approach, particularly as regards the relationship between education and society. In the Zurich pedagogist, in fact, the inclusion in civil society remains the practical background of the educational action, the moment of concrete moral and economic redemption of the derelicts.
In this regard, remember the centrality of professional education already at the first Pestalozzian institute in Neuhof.
In the overall conception of society and of educational institutions, Pestalozzi suffers from German idealism, which suggested to him idea of the ethical state as the crowning of the process that leads to overcoming the state of nature through the social state.
There is, however, a peculiarity that clearly differentiates the Pestalozzian concept of ethics from the idealistic conception of the ethical state. It consists in the profound conviction that the ethical order finds foundation and support in God.
Moreover, Pestalozzi is animated by a concrete desire to improve the human condition through education, which is addressed to man in his entirety. This is why, along with technical and professional training, ethical and religious education, which makes the young aware of the action of divine Providence in his life, takes on decisive importance.
3. The innovative aspects of the methodology
The Pestalozzian methodology focuses on two fundamental principles: naturalness and elementarity.
Education must be natural, since it must take into account the natural evolution of the individual and respect it, without imposing "leaps forward" that would be counterproductive.
Education must also be elementary, that is, it must start from the simplest and closest elements to the child's experience and then gradually move away from it.
In reality, in practice, the Swiss pedagogist didn't always remain faithful to the methodological principles he himself set out. A common limit to the Pestalozzian institutions was the excessive weight given to mathematics, however reproached by the same contemporaries and cause of an inspection to Yverdun directed by another distinguished Swiss pedagogist, Father Girard.
In fact, the claim to bring all the teaching back to three "categories", the "number" (which would correspond to arithmetic, algebra and astronomy), the "form" (which would correspond to geometry, drawing, writing and manual work) and the "name" (language and song teaching) is unrealistic and destined to failure.
Despite these and other limitations of the work of Pestalozzi, it's recognized the great merit of having understood the need to offer free primary education to all and to have understood the importance of professional education, means of redemption and opportunities of dignified inclusion in the social and working context.
The Pestalozzi wasn't, therefore, a great theorist of education, as evidenced by his methodology, far from immune from just criticism, nor a good administrator or a skilled organizer, as evidenced by the financial instability and the disorder of its institutions.
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But he was animated by a strong moral sense and generous dedication, in spite of the failures suffered, to the cause of elementary and popular education.
4. The heritage of Pestalozzi on nineteenth-century
The echo aroused by the Pestalozzian experiences was wide throughout Europe, perhaps also increased by the painful polemical stretches that accompanied the closure of the Yverdun Institute.
It was said that the latter was a destination for many visitors, who came from all over Europe to pay homage to the great Swiss pedagogist.
Among the most illustrious there was undoubtedly the founder of German idealism, Fichte, who had a profound admiration towards Pestalozzi, not without a critical gaze, especially addressed to the theoretical and conceptual weakness of his educational method.
The young Froebel also visited Yverdun, receiving a significant and lasting impression, designed to inspire the educational action, who will express himself in forms that are completely original and very distant from the Pestalozzian model.
We have already said, a little earlier, of Father Grégoire Girard, at the head of the inspectors sent by the authorities to clarify the management of the Yver-dun institute. Eminent figure of educator, the ecclesiastic didn't miss, beside the criticisms founded on objective elements, to express his sincere appreciation for the deep philanthropic inspiration that animated Pestalozzi (9, c, pp. 1-200).
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Another important Swiss pedagogist, greatly influenced by the author of Lienhard und Gertrud, was Albertine Adrienne Necker de Saussure, author of L'éducation progressive, ou étude du cours de la vie (10, vol. I, pp. 1-372, vol. II, pp. 1-382, vol. III, pp. 1422).
Bibliography
1. Ernst F., Pestalozzi: leben und wirken, Zurich-Leipzig, Rascher 1927.
2. Quesnay F., Tableau économique des phisioc-rates, Paris, Calmann-Lévy 1969.
3. Pestalozzi J.H., Ecrits sur l'expérience du Neuhof, Bern, Lang 2001.
4. Pestalozzi J.H., Lienhard und Gertrud, Basel, Birkhauser 1946.
5. Pestalozzi J.H., Pestalozzi uber seine Anstalt in Stanz, Weinheim, Beltz 1950.
6. Pestalozzi J H., Wie Gertrud ihre Kinder lehrt, Stuttgart und Tubingen, J. G. Cotta'schen buchhandlung 1820.
7. Pestalozzi J.H., A B C der Anschauung, Zurich, Gessner 1803 (2 voll.).
8. Pestalozzi J.H., Pestalozzis Schwanengesang, Stuttgart und Tubingen, J. G. Cotta'schen buchhandlung 1826.
9. Girard G., Rapport sur l'institut de Mr. Pestalozzi à Yverdon, Fribourg en Suisse, Béat-Louis Piller 1810.
10. Necker de Saussure A.A. (de), L'éducation progressive, ou étude du cours de la vie, Paris, Paulin 1841 (3 voll.).
Алтынбаев Б. Т.,
магистрант
ФГБОУ ВО «Южно-Уральский государственный гуманитарно-педагогический университет»
г. Челябинск
ОСОБЕННОСТИ МОТОРНОЙ СФЕРЫ У ДЕТЕЙ С УМСТВЕННОЙ ОТСТАЛОСТЬЮ
Altynbayev B. T.,
master student
FSBEI of HE "South Ural State Humanitarian-Pedagogical University"
Chelyabinsk
PECULIARITIES OF MOTOR SPHERE IN CHILDREN WITH MENTAL RETARDATION
Abstract:
The article presents the periodization offeatures of the motor development of mentally retarded children. Each period is disclosed, the experience of scientists, teachers, defectologists about the development of the motor sphere of mentally retarded children is summarized. The specific disorders ofphysical and mental development, including factors affecting the motor sphere of mentally retarded children, are considered.
Аннотация:
В статье представлена периодизация особенностей моторного развития умственно отсталых детей. Раскрыт каждый период, обобщаются опыт ученых, педагогов, дефектологов о развитии моторной сферы умственно отсталых детей. Рассматриваются специфических нарушений физического и психического развития, в том числе и факторы, влияющие на двигательную сферу умственно отсталых детей.
Ключевые слова: моторная сфера, двигательные нарушения, возраст, способности, центральная нервная система, синкенезии.
Key words: motor sphere, motor disorders, age, abilities, central nervous system, synkinesia.
