Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky: The Founder of Scientific Pedagogy in the 19th Century Russia

Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky (Ushinskii) (February 19, 1823 - December 22, 1870) is a Russian democratic educator and the founder of scientific pedagogy in Russia. K.D. Ushinsky is regarded as ‘the teacher of Russian teachers’ because his achievements in education and pedagogy defined the structure of public education in Russia for the next century. He transformed Smolny Institute into the first teachers training institute. Ushinsky wrote the first primer of Russian language “Native Word”, the first reading book “Children's World” and the first chrestomathy for children. By doing the first-hand, comprehensive analysis of educational systems in several European countries, he created the field of comparative education. In the three volumes monograph “The Human as a Subject of Education. Pedagogical Anthropology”, K.D. Ushinsky summarized his educational ideas and teaching methods that were developed using all available at that time physiological and psychological knowledge about child’s nature. His pedagogical works are still valuable and studied by future teachers at pedagogical institutes in Russia. Here we overview the biography and pedagogy of K.D. Ushinsky.