Gertraud Kietz

Magdalene Gertraud Kietz (born March 31, 1913 in Leipzig ; † August 11, 2001 in Zwiesel ) was a German kindergarten teacher, youth leader and doctor of psychology.

Live and act

Magdalene Gertraud Kietz was the second oldest of four children of the mathematics teacher Georg Kietz and his wife Anna Alwina Kietz, geb. Grüttner. Her older brother was the well-known physicist Erhard Kietz . After training as a kindergarten teacher, she completed the youth leader seminar. Then Kietz studied psychology , philosophy and folklore in Breslau and Leipzig . She completed her studies at the beginning of September 1944 with a doctorate , the oral examination took place in mid-December 1942. The subject of her dissertation was: The expressive content of the human gait . In her doctoral thesis, she stated that the "constitutional and racial-typological characteristics of the Ganges ... [still, author] require more detailed research" (Kietz 1944, p. 134). Her scientific work, which was not very much influenced by Nazi ideology, was published in an adjusted form immediately after the end of the war:

This publication, published in Leipzig in 1948, is a revealing document from the end of the age of expression in science. It shows, among other things, that in the epoch of expressive thinking from the twenties to the fifties of the last century, the mastery of words was obviously more important than the skillful use of numbers .

When her PhD supervisor Philipp Lersch moved to the University of Munich in 1942, Kietz followed him as a research assistant. After 1945 the psychologist with a doctorate was a private tutor, lecturer at Otto Maier Verlag Ravensburg , lecturer at the Pedagogical Institute in Weilburg , regional psychologist at the Inner Mission Württemberg and head of the Protestant social pedagogical training center of the deaconess house in Münster / Westf. From 1960 she worked as a freelancer. Kietz was a member of the German Society for Psychology , the International Council of Psychologists and the International Society of General Semantics .

Kietz spent the last years of her life in the Caritas nursing home St. Helena in Zwiesel.

Selected basic pedagogical ideas

To build the child

In the 1950s, the psychologist developed the Dr. Kietz construction kit . It emerged from more than twenty years of observation and research on more than three thousand children. Nothing about this kit is random or arbitrary. Every little detail has its educational and didactic meaning, although the box appears very simple. There is a reason why the blocks have these six shapes, no other and no more and no less, as well as their size, their surface texture, their weight, their number, the way they are arranged in the box, etc. Also that they are made of good beech wood and not made of fir or plastic is very important, as is their natural color. The widespread opinion that building blocks should be brightly colored for small children has proven to be erroneous in scientific investigations, as a mistake that hinders development . As for the construction of the infant, Kietz found that the children in this age group is not yet ready to really common forms are and all attempts eager kindergarten teachers to bring about a change here are fruitless and pointless because they run contrary to nature .

To the spring propaganda

In the mid-1960s there was increased criticism of the previous kindergarten pedagogy. Kietz said:

Almost all of the kindergartens are so overcrowded that they are mere custody facilities. In them we find mass instead of community, supervision and training instead of education .

The Munich psychologist Heinz-Rolf Lückert spoke of the dumbing down of toddlers and called for more intensive cognitive support for them. In this regard, he propagated his method of spring, which made waves. In the resulting "dispute over pre-school education", Kietz was one of the leading and highly regarded protagonists. In innumerable lectures and essays she contradicted Lückert & Co, whose positions would lead to a neglect of the social, emotional and musical-creative aspects of kindergarten education:

If we, as specialists in toddler education, reject the Lückert Spring Movement today, it does not happen because we did not know enough about so-called 'new knowledge and methods' and we just clung convulsively to dusty traditions. Exactly the opposite is the case. We know a little more thoroughly than Lückert in past and present infant education and have more practical experience in this area ... Lückert's approach is irresponsible because the spring movement he so aggressively staged is not some harmless little thing blows up bubbles in public for a few weeks and then goes out again without a sound and without consequences like so many other press sensations, but because he makes the whole parenthood confused and nervous, wants to reform the entire kindergarten system and, above all, all of the toddlers gives up for uncontrolled experiments and manipulations, which mean very strong interventions in their development and personal development .

Kietz was of the opinion that one should start with the overcrowding of the kindergartens:

For decades, social education specialists and specialist organizations have been fighting a tough, desperate struggle for smaller groups in kindergartens, step by step, in order to finally be able to work and support the children as their educational conscience demands of them. But they are not only left alone in this fight, but are now also stabbed in the back by reproachfully speaking of a 'dumbing down' of the small children and confusing and stirring up the parents. And now one wants to remedy this mass shortage of small children with reading lessons! It's a bit like throwing someone about to drown in a swimsuit made according to the latest fashion .

On the career choice of kindergarten teacher

In 1962, in a large-scale survey, Kietz asked newly admitted students from several schools for kindergarten teachers (in Bielefeld, Dortmund, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Landshut, Würzburg, Wuppertal, Neuendettelsau etc.) and others. a. according to their motivation to become a kindergarten teacher. When the survey was published four years later, it caused a sensation, especially since a heated discussion about the kindergarten profession had flared up in the meantime, especially with regard to a reform of training. In general, the profession of educator with twice as long training time was sought. On the other hand, Kietz continued to advocate the nursery school occupation , as, according to her investigation, these are young girls whose inclination urges them to pursue a profession of practical maternal work with and with children. Even before they started their vocational training, they expressed this tendency in a variety of spontaneous care for younger children, and they also justify their decision for the profession largely in this sense (Kietz 1966, p. 153 f). In the event of an extension of the training period, Kietz feared that the associated increase in the subject matter would easily kill the students and would not leave them enough time and opportunity to allow the powers of the mind that are inherent in them to flow sufficiently into their work (ibid., P. 155 ). But these girls must not be lost for the job of kindergarten teacher, as these are people who come from a population group that must be described as the human elite, who enjoy children and have a lot of sense and skill for a good, happy family life, with a high sense of social responsibility and a marked inclination towards educational professions, which will certainly often be rooted in an inherited educational talent. These people live less from the intellect, but they bring with them a pronounced femininity and motherliness and a deep, warm-hearted will to help children in need (ibid., P. 156). Therefore, the training period should not be extended for Kietz, rather the question should be asked:

How can we just these people by their species-appropriate training better than ever on their professional practice to prepare? (ibid.).

Works (selection)

• The expressive content of the human gait, Leipzig 1944 (unpublished dissertation)
• The expressive content of the human gait, Leipzig 1948; Second, expanded edition 1952
• Self-control in childhood, Munich 1948
• Building the child. An introduction to his understanding of parents and educators, Ravensburg 1950
• Colorful children's world. A little book for everyone who loves children, Witten / Ruhr 1952
• They have to be like that. Children at the beginning of their maturity period, Stuttgart 1956
• At home with us. Youth memories from their Saxon homeland, Munich 1958
• Gang und Seele, Munich 1966
• To the spring propaganda. An attack - no defense, in: Unser Jugend 1967, pp. 550–462
• The ideal game, in: Lebendige Familie 1969 / H. 11, pp. 3-5
• Draft of a master plan for upbringing and educational work in kindergarten, part 1, Munich / Basel 1970
• The kindergarten teacher. Social background and career choice, Munich 1966
• Building the child. A help for parents and educators, Munich 1974
• Experiencing and understanding children, Munich / Basel 1982
• Colorful rich life. Far over time and space, Buxheim 1985
• The secret of time and other short stories and poems, Buxheim 1988

literature

• Manfred Berger : Leading women in social responsibility: Gertraud Kietz, in: Christ and Education 2004 / H. 5, S, 35
• Großheim, Michael / Volke, Stefan (ed.): Feeling, gesture, face. On the phenomenology of expression, Freiburg / Munich 2010

Web links

• Literature by and about Gertraud Kietz in the catalog of the German National Library
• Gertraud Kietz in the Lexicon of Westphalian Authors
• Manfred Berger : Women in the history of kindergarten: Gertraud Kietz
• Manfred Berger: Article about Gertraud Kietz
• photo

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://de.scribd.com/doc/5343219/Lebenslauf-in-kurzform
2. ↑ Großheim / Volke 2010, p. 9
3. ↑ http://img03.mar.cx/_images/DE848958
4. ↑ Kietz 1969, p. 4
5. ↑ Kietz 1974, p. 105
6. ↑ cit. n. Spiegel 1970 / No. 44, p. 85
7. ↑ see Spiegel 1970 / No. 44, pp. 62-90
8. ↑ Kietz 1967, p. 458 f
9. ↑ Kietz 1967, p. 461