Elsa Koehler

Elsa Köhler (born February 24, 1879 in Lemberg , Austria-Hungary as Elisabeth Köhler Edle von Dammwehr; † December 20, 1940 in Vienna ) was a reform pedagogue , developmental psychologist and co-founder of factual educational research.

life and work

After graduating as a primary school teacher in 1899, she was the educator for the children of Archduchess Marie Valerie . In 1920 she met Ingeborg Hamberg as a participant in a recreational program in Varberg on the Swedish west coast , whose joint attempts at school influenced the development of the Swedish school system. In 1921 Elsa Köhler came to the Federal Education Institute in Vienna III. In 1926 she did her doctorate in psychology with Karl Bühler at the University of Vienna on the "personality of the three-year-old child". In the period 1922–32, Köhler took part as a lecturer at numerous international congresses. From November 1931 to spring 1933 she worked in Jena for the reform pedagogue Peter Petersen , the founder of the Jena Plan . By recording teaching situations in the Jena University School in a protocol, Köhler and her group of doctoral students and pupils there laid the foundation for Jena "educational factual research". This research approach was continued within the Jena Plan by Dr. Else Müller-Petersen and, after the Second World War, developed by Friedrich Winnefeld (1911–1968) into a general concept of empirical research in education.

In 1934 Köhler was forced to retire by the Viennese authorities, with low salaries. During this time she worked in Sweden as a researcher on the basis of a research grant from the American Association of University Women . Efforts to find permanent university employment in Sweden have been unsuccessful. Marked by illness, Köhler returned to Vienna in 1938, accompanied by her long-time friend Ingeborg Hamberg. Köhler spent the last two years of his life impoverished in Vienna. She remained completely scientifically isolated after her doctoral supervisor Karl Bühler emigrated in 1938 because of the "Anschluss" of Austria to Hitler's Germany. Köhler's grave is located in the Vienna Central Cemetery.

Köhler's scientific importance lies 1. in her contributions to the reform of foreign language didactics, in particular in French teaching, 2. in works on psychology, pedagogy and language development of toddlers, 3. in empirical pedagogical-psychological research, 4. in the educational reform concept of "creative teaching" . Köhler developed the principle of the radical work school, she concluded contracts with the students and let them manage the lessons themselves even during their week-long absences.

Books and articles by Elsa Köhler

• Köhler, Elsa and Ingeborg Hamberg: Ur den moderna pedagogikens Verkstad. Stockholm 1926.
• Köhler, Elsa: The personality of the three year old child (Annchen). Leipzig 1926.
• Köhler, Elsa: The crisis of psychology and pedagogy. In: Schulreform, 8th year 1929, pp. 409–427.
• Köhler, Elsa: Educational Science. In: Schulreform, 9th year 1930, pp. 670–675.
• Köhler, Elsa and Ingeborg Hamberg: On the psychology and pedagogy of intellectual work. Development history of a class 1924–1930. Berlin 1931.
• Köhler, Elsa, Karl Reininger and Ingeborg Hamberg: Developmental creative lessons. Vienna 1932.
• Köhler, Elsa and Walter Böhm (with the assistance of Marta Bergemann-Könitzer ): Development aid as a psychological and educational problem. Weimar 1936.
• Köhler, Elsa: Activity pedagogy. Stockholm 1936.
• Köhler, Elsa: Småbarnsfostran. Stockholm 1937.

Newer secondary literature

• Hein Retter: Reform Education and Protestantism in the Transition to Democracy. Studies on Peter Petersen's pedagogy. Peter Lang International Publishing House for Science. Frankfurt / M. 2007, pp. 154-156.
• Hein Retter (ed.): Reform pedagogy between reconstruction, criticism and understanding. Deutscher Studien Verlag, Weinheim 1996. In it: Peter Petersen and Elsa Köhler. Exchange of letters about an unrealized project, pp. 189–226
• Lars Karlsson: Leka, lära, öva, arbeta, verkskapa. Elsa Köhler en österrikisk aktivitetspedagog i Sverige. Lund 1998. Lund University Press.
• Hein Retter: Elsa Köhler - Work and work of a reform pedagogue. In: Education and Teaching (Vienna), Volume 153, 2003, pp. 1097–1113.
• Hein Retter (ed.): Reform pedagogy. New approaches - findings - controversies. In it: Irmtraud and Lars Karlsson: Elsa Köhler - an Austrian reform pedagogue in Sweden. Bad Heilbrunn 2004. Klinkhardt Verlag, pp. 106–116
• Charlotte Zwiauer: Köhler, Elsa. In: Brigitta Keintzel, Ilse Korotin (ed.): Scientists in and from Austria. Life - work - work. Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2002, ISBN 3-205-99467-1 , pp. 393–395.

Older secondary literature

• Dagger, J .: Koehler, Elsa. In: Herder's Lexicon of Pedagogy. Freiburg 1965, p. 7.
• EH [= Ester Hermansson] Koehler, Elsa. In: Psykologisk-pedagogisk uppslagbok. Andra omarbetade och utvidgade upplagan. Volume II. Stockholm 1956, p. 742.
• Fadrus, V .: Koehler, Elsa. In: Lexikon der Pädagogik in three volumes, Vol. 3. Bern 1952, pp. 257-258.
• Hetzer, H .: Child and adolescent psychological research in the Vienna Psychological Institute from 1922

until 1938. In: Journal for Developmental and Pedagogical Psychology, 14th year 1982, pp. 175–244.

• Petersen, P. u. E .: The educational factual research. Obtained from T. Rutt. Paderborn 1965.
• Winnefeld, F. u. Staff: pedagogical contact and pedagogical field. Munich 1957.

Web links

• Literature by and about Elsa Köhler in the catalog of the German National Library