This presentation is on Pestalozzi

1. JOHANN HEINRICH
PESTALOZZI
(1746–1827)

2. ◦ Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was a writer, political and social
reformer, and educator.
◦ Born and educated in Zurich, Switzerland January 12, 1746
◦ Inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s idea of “ going back to
nature”
◦ Known as the Father of Modern Education.
◦ In 1780 he wrote a series of reflections The Evening Hours of a
Hermit outlining his educational theory that educations begins
at home.
◦ In 1781 he produced his masterpiece Leonard and Gertrude.
◦ Due to his deep sense of human suffering he continued to
educate and help orphan children.
◦ In 1805 he opened his private school in Yverdon a French-
speaking district of Switzerland, and steadily worked on this
project for 20 years. This school gained international reputation.
◦ In 1826 the school was closed and Pestalozzi retired and died in
1827.

3. Pestalozzi’s Influence On Modern Education
◦ Besides teaching children with his unique methods,
Pestalozzi also taught education leaders of his day,
including Friedrich Froebel, the founder of the kindergarten
movement. Additionally, his methods and writings
influenced later educational leaders and philosophers, such
as Johann Friedrich Herbart, John Dewey, Maria
Montessori, and Jean Piaget and became the foundation of
elementary education today.

4. Pestalozzi’s Childhood
◦ Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi's early life played a significant role in his later
development and interests.
◦ The roots of Pestalozzi's belief in the 'original goodness of man and of his
dedication to the poor' resulted from the unfailing love and attention given by his
mother.
◦ The intense love and devotion by his mother and faithful servant resulted in a
sheltered environment and limited opportunity to interact with other children or
develop practical skills. Young Pestalozzi's awkward behavior and eccentricities in
social situations further ostracized him among his young peers. These early social
difficulties impacted Pestalozzi's philosophy of education and resulted in his
emphasis on practical training and socialization of the child.

5. Pestalozzi's work
◦ "Children should learn through activity and through things (hands-on tools).
◦ They should be free to pursue their own interests and draw their own
conclusions.
◦ The three elements of head, heart and hands is what is most important to
children receiving a great education.
◦ His writings continually emphasized the importance of the mother in a child's life
and the impact the mother-child relationship had on the child's development.
◦ Pestalozzi defined education as "the natural, progressive, harmonious
development of all the powers and faculties of the human being"

6. Object Of Education
◦ Pestalozzi felt that the object of education was “not a perfection in the
accomplishments of the school, but fitness for life; not the acquirement
of habits of blind obedience and of prescribed diligence, but a
preparation for interdependent action.”
◦ Not to impart knowledge but to unfold the natural faculties latent or
hidden in every individual.
◦ He suggested two purposes of education:
◦ Development of the individual.
◦ Improvement of the society. He saw education as central to the
improvement of social conditions

7. Method of Education
◦ Centred on the child not curriculum.
◦ Teacher should not teach through words but allow children to discover the
answers themselves.
◦ No use of books but direct method.
◦ He advocated an inductive method, in which the child first learns to observe, to
correct its own mistakes, and to analyze and describe the object of inquiry. The
child starts with simple objects and simple observation, and builds toward more
complex and abstract things. Only after that can the child start to use books.
◦ In order to allow children to obtain more experience from nature, Pestalozzi
expanded the elementary school curriculum to include geography, natural
science, fine art, and music.

8. Major Components of Pestalozzi's
'Method
Morf, one of Pestalozzi's most capable disciples, summarized the instructional
methods:
1. Emphasis on observation or sense perception ("intuition").
2. Language always being rooted in observation of an object.
3. Judgment or criticism being inappropriate when students are
learning.
4. Teaching "should begin with the simplest elements and proceed
gradually according to the development of the child...in
psychologically connected order."
5. Enough time should be directed to the lesson to allow mastery.

9. 6. Teaching is not an exercise in dogmatism, but in development.
7. Teachers must respect students.
8. "The chief end of elementary teaching is not to impart knowledge and
talent to the learner, but to develop and increase the powers of his
intelligence."
9. Knowledge and power are related; skill results from learning information.
Love should regulate the relation between teacher and student,
"especially as to discipline."
11. The higher aims of education should regulate instruction.

10. Discipline in the classroom
◦ Pestalozzi maintained that the classroom should be like a family. The
atmosphere must be loving and caring, like in a good Christian family, where
the family members are cooperative, loving, and kind to one another. He
developed the idea of the “family classroom” from the way his mother raised
him and his sister.
◦ Family is thus, for Pestalozzi, an essential component of education.
◦ He believed that "without love, neither the physical nor the intellectual powers
will develop naturally"

11. Pestaslozzi’s view on Education
◦ I wish to wrest education from the outworn order of doddering
old teaching hacks as well as from the new-fangled order of
cheap, artificial teaching tricks, and entrust it to the eternal
powers of nature herself, to the light which God has kindled and
kept alive in the hearts of fathers and mothers, to the interests of
parents who desire their children grow up in favor with God and
with men. (Pestalozzi quoted in Silber 1965: 134)

12. Conclusion
◦In one of his final writings,
Swan's Song, Pestalozzi wrote a
concise conclusion of his
method: “Life itself educates.”