Carl Friedrich Gotthelf Baumfelder
Carl Friedrich Gotthelf Baumfelder (born June 20, 1798 in Dippoldiswalde , † January 5, 1865 in Dresden ) was a Saxon school reformer, educator and founder of the teachers' association movement.
Life
Gotthelf's parents were impoverished by the Napoleonic wars. His father was Carl Friedrich Baumfelder - citizen, master bagger and church father in Dippoldiswalde. He died when Gotthelf was 15 years old. He lost his mother, Sophia Rosina, at the age of five. Nevertheless, Gotthelf was able to attend grammar school in Freiberg . But he doubted his own skills and instead of finishing high school, he went to a teachers' seminar . When he graduated as a teacher, he got a job in Döbeln . He had to support his two single sisters from his meager teaching salary.
The Saxon Ministry appointed him to Dresden in 1823 to the royal Saxon garrison school "Rath und Tath" as senior teacher and later (1841) as director.
He married his first marriage and had three children. All three children and the wife died.
He married a second time, Ernestine Friederike Hering (* April 25, 1805, † February 20, 1882), daughter of the Pirna mayor. Seven children were born to the Baumfelder family. The male descendants all received a good education. Friedrich Baumfelder (1836–1916) became a pianist, cantor and composer in Dresden, Gustav (1839–1925) became pastor and Protadiaconus in Zittau and Reinhold (1840–1872) became a doctor.
The school reformer
Gotthelf Baumfelder got the opportunity in 1835 to go to Eckernförde in the Duchy of Schleswig to get to know the school system there. After his return he implemented his experiences at his school. In 1837 a pamphlet was written about the necessity of redesigning teaching to take account of the needs of adolescents.
"[...] the institution must take into account the class and the probable occupation; it must take in what is possible of family life. Heartfelt participation in mutual fate, active care, a loving tone in the company must meet the pupil also from the events of the school [...] "
In the garrison school, students were taught practical courses. Woodturning, carpenters, basket making and bookbinding were on the lesson plan. For Baumfelder, the relationship between intellectual education and practical ability was important for the overall development of the growing person. In his writing he also gives specific instructions for singing lessons and gymnastics lessons. Baumfelder relies on two-way teaching. He consistently developed his method of mutual teaching, which had already been developed by Andrew Bell (1753-1832), a Scottish clergyman and director of an orphanage near the Indian city of Madras , and the London poor school teacher Joseph Lancaster at the end of the 18th century . Independently of one another, they developed measures for a completely changed teaching system. Older, more advanced students, so-called mentors, are given the task of supervising the majority of the other students. For this it was necessary to divide the subject matter into small, clearly defined and precisely consecutive units. The whole thing should be anchored in textbooks. Baumfelder now experienced this upheaval in Germany too. The Saxon Ministry supported him in his efforts. He successfully dealt with his critics, especially Adolph Diesterweg . Today Baumfelder is considered a Saxon school reformer of the 19th century.
Caring for disadvantaged children
In his writing, Baumfelder devotes a whole part to the problem of children and young people wandering about on the streets without supervision or parental care. He put his suggestions into practice himself and founded a boys' institution.
"[...] if the youth, especially the unsupervised, are given more and more attention, as they deserve, then our happiness grows with their happiness [...]"
Teacher association founder
Baumfelder is one of the founding fathers of the Saxon teachers' association movement. For a time he headed the association founded in 1833 as chairman.
Baumfelder and Friedrich Froebel
In a letter to his wife in 1839 , Friedrich Froebel describes the visit to the senior teacher Baumfelder in Dresden. He not only gets to know the educator with his successful methods.
He writes to Henriette Froebel:
“We were invited to the head teacher Baumfelder's family. How often have I thought of you; How would you find yourself in this dear, quiet, gentle family with many children, consisting of happy people [...] in every respect so very simple and calmly trusting family. "
Fields of trees and religiosity
A quote from the short biography of the Evangelical Lutheran pastor Gustav Baumfelder about his father should once again clarify the religiosity that predominates in the family:
“When we six siblings were very young, the father sat at the piano with the mother every Sunday and we children […] sang […] the main song of the morning service after dinner. If visitors came at that time, they had to wait outside in the hall or come in and sing along. The father did not let himself be disturbed in his devotion. The father had a wonderful gift of entertainment, but in the end he mostly knew how to steer the conversation from the visible to the invisible [...] to the living God, [...] The result was that people often said: When we have been in your family we feel as if we had been to church [...] "
literature
- On the reception of the two-way teaching system based on the Bell-Lancaster teaching method by Carl Friedrich Gotthelf Baumfelder (1798–1865) in Dresden ; Pehnke, Andreas; in Pädagogische Rundschau, 58 (2004) 3, pp. 281–295; ISSN 0030-9273
Web links
- Andreas Pehnke: Baumfelder, Carl Friedrich Gotthelf . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Research on the family chronicle, Claus Scharschuch; Freital
- ↑ About the Eckernförde elementary school facility, lessons in singing, gymnastics and industry and the supervision and employment of young people; from CFG Baumfelder; Dresden; Wagner's bookstore 1835
- ↑ About the Eckernförde elementary school facility, lessons in singing, gymnastics and industry and the supervision and employment of young people; CFG tree fields; Dresden; Wagner's bookstore 1835
- ↑ Andreas Pehnke: Baumfelder, Carl Friedrich Gotthelf . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .
- ↑ Froebel to Henriette Wilhelmine Froebel in Blankenburg from 28./29. January 1839; ed.Rhein. Bl. 1878. 246-259
- ↑ Gustav Baumfelder's biography about his father, presented at the family reunion in 1925
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Baumfelder, Carl Friedrich Gotthelf |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Saxon school reformer, educator and founder of the teachers' association movement |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 20, 1798 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dippoldiswalde |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 5, 1865 |
| Place of death | Dresden |