Konstantin Ushinsky

Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky (Russian: Константи́н Дми́триевич Уши́нский; Ukrainian: Костянтин Дмитрович Ушинський) (2 March [O.S. 19 February] 1824 – 3 January 1871 [O.S. 22 December]) was a Russian teacher and writer, credited as the founder of scientific pedagogy in Russia.

Konstantin Ushinsky was born in Tula to a family of a retired officer. Soon the family moved to Novhorod-Siverskyi (modern Ukraine) where Konstantin's father was appointed an uyezd judge. In 1844 Ushinsky graduated from the Department of Law of Moscow University. From 1846 to 1849 he was a professor at the Demidov Lyceum in Yaroslavl but was forced to leave the position because of his liberal views.

The unemployed Ushinsky earned money by literary work for the magazines Sovremennik and Biblioteka dlya Chteniya. After a year and a half he managed to get a position as a minor bureaucrat in the Department for Foreign Religions. Ushinsky referred to his job at the time as "the most boring position possible."

In 1854 Ushinsky became a teacher of Russian Literature and Law at the Gatchina Orphanage (Gatchinsky Sirotsky Institut). In 1855-1859 he became the Inspector at the same institution. There was a lucky incident during his inspectorship: he discovered two sealed-off bookcases untouched for more than twenty years, which held the library of Pestalozzi's pupil Hugel. This discovery strongly influenced Ushinsky's interest in theoretical pedagogy.

In 1859-1862 Ushinsky was the Inspector of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens in Saint-Petersburg, In 1860-1862 he also worked as the Chief Editor of the Journal of the Department of Education (Zhurnal Ministerstva Narodnago Obrazovaniya). Following a conflict with the Department of Education, Ushinsky was forced to go abroad to study school organizations in Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium and Italy (1862-1867). The position was perceived by many as an honorary exile.

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