Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

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The following text was originally published in Prospects:the quarterly review of comparative education (Paris,

UNESCO: International Bureau of Education), vol. XXIV, no. 1/2, 1994, p. 297–310.

©UNESCO:International Bureau of Education, 2000

This document may be reproduced free of charge as long as acknowledgement is made of the source.

JOHANN HEINRICH PESTALOZZI

(1746–1827)

Michel Soëtard

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Pestalozzi is very often mentioned, but very rarely read and both his work and his thought are still

very little known: people usually content themselves with such bland imagery as the ‘the milk of

human kindness’ or the ‘father of the poor’, whereas Pestalozzi was a thinker and above all a

fervent advocate of action. The father of modern educational science, he directly inspired Froebel

and Herbart and his name was associated with all the movements for educational reform that

roused the passions of the nineteenth century.

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 Admittedly, however, his written work is not easy to

read. Wordy, rough-hewn and written in a medley of styles and tones, it presents a permanent

challenge to the Cartesian mind.

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To my mind, Pestalozzi’s relevance today can only be determined by seeking to interpret

the salient events in his life as a man and educationist in the light of today’s concerns. This will help

the reader rediscover the dreams and illusions that accompanied the emergence of educational

thought and that still haunt it today. But, above all, it will show a man who, after the failure of a

first attempt to give substance to his philanthropic dream, still found the strength for an effort to

gauge the whole historic importance of the concept of education and embody it in an attitude

towards teaching that was to become the be-all and end-all of his entire existence.

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