Ovide Decroly

Ovide Decroly

Ovide Decroly (left) at a New Education Fellowship conference

Jean-Ovide Decroly (called Ovide Decroly ; * July 23, 1871 in Ronse ; † September 12, 1932 in Uccle / Ukkel ) was a Belgian doctor , neurologist , psychologist and educationalist .

Life

Ovide Decroly grew up in Flanders . On his father's side, the origins of his family were in France . As a teenager, Ovide Decroly disliked the high school lessons at that time, especially the abstract lessons in the ancient language subjects, which would have a formative effect on his later work. After high school he studied medicine at the University of Ghent , as well as neuropsychology in Berlin , Paris and Brussels . In 1898 he moved permanently to Brussels with his wife Agnès Guisset and worked there in the neurological department of a clinic, where he took over the management of an area for "abnormal and speech-impaired children". Rejecting classic treatment methods, he founded his own institute in 1901 to care for such children. Some parents, who had observed his work and classes, entrusted him with their “normal” children in 1907, whereupon Decroly founded a school called Ermitage . It was in Ixelles / Elsene in Brussels for a long time , but in 1927 Decroly moved it to the suburb of Ukkel. Decroly devoted himself to this school in an extraordinary way until the end of his life. In addition, he was also active as a university professor and trainer in the field of special education. Ovide Decroly was a member of the Masonic Lodge Les Amis Philanthropes .

The Decroly method

Decroly first tried to get children's attention from a medical point of view in an experimental way and to analyze their behavior. He then applied the knowledge gained in this way in his school, even with children and young people who were not learning-disabled. Of central importance here are the needs and interests of his co- educated students. Less important is the frontal teaching determined by teachers according to a given uniform curriculum. The children and adolescents should establish a broad consensus about their interests and then learn largely independently in group work, also outdoors or on excursions by observing, associating and summarizing. A so-called “global approach” predominates, which means that everything should go from the whole and the concrete to the details and abstraction, which most closely corresponds to the natural and spontaneous approach of children. In this context, the teachers have to create a suitable environment. The aim is to achieve maximum individual learning success for each child and young person.

Decroly schools

The school founded by Decroly still exists. There are several schools around the world named after Ovide Decroly. They are not part of a common organization and often do not quite follow Decroly's pedagogical methodology.

See also

• New Education Fellowship

literature

• Annika Blichmann (Ed.): Ovide Decroly - The Decroly Method as a Contribution to International Reform Education . Introductory texts. Series: Pedagogical Reform in Sources, Edition Paideia, Verlag IKS Garamond, Jena 2011.
• Annika: Blichmann: Education as a science. Ovide Decroly and his path from doctor to educator. Schöningh, Paderborn 2014.
• Amélie Hamaïde: The Decroly Method . Böhlau, Weimar 1928.
• Hermann Röhrs: Reform pedagogy and internal educational reform . Deutscher Studien Verlag, 1998.
• Alice Descoeudres: Dr. Ovide Decroly † . In: Zeitschrift für Kinderforschung, Volume 41 (1933), Issue 2, pp. 241–245. ( Online )

Web links

Commons : Ovide Decroly  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Review of the translated and commented collection of texts on the Decroly method on the website of the World Association for the Renewal of Education (German)
• PROSPECTS-UNESCO on Decrolys work (English; PDF; 79 kB)