Pauline Kergomard (24 April 1838 – 13 February 1925) was a French educator. She is known as the founder of the nursery school in France.
Early years
Pauline Reclus was born in Bordeaux in 1838. Her father was Jean Reclus, inspector of schools of the
Gironde
Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,62 ...
. Her uncle, Jacques Reclus, taught at the Protestant college of
Sainte-Foy-la-Grande
Sainte-Foy-la-Grande (; oc, Senta Fe la Granda) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gironde Departments of France, department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is on the south bank of the Dordogne (river), Dordogne.
History
Th ...
. She spent her infancy with her aunt Zéline in
Orthez
Orthez (; eu, Ortheze; oc, Ortès, ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, and region of New Aquitaine, southwestern France.
It lies 40 km NW of Pau on the Southern railway to Bayonne. The town also encompasses the sma ...
. On returning to Bordeaux she was a student at a secular institution that became the École normale of Gironde. She became a public school teacher in the Gironde. She married Jules Duplessis-Kergomard, a penniless man of letters with little interest in working.
Career
In 1879 Pauline Kergomard was appointed general delegate for inspection of asylums, with the support of Ferdinand Buisson. She was named to the post by
Jules Ferry
Jules François Camille Ferry (; 5 April 183217 March 1893) was a French statesman and republican philosopher. He was one of the leaders of the Moderate Republicans and served as Prime Minister of France from 1880 to 1881 and 1883 to 1885. He ...
. She was inspector-general of kindergartens from 1881 until 1917. She was extremely active, attending conferences, dealing with regional and national authorities and campaigning against child poverty and for women's causes. She traveled throughout France, inspecting schools and communicating her educational philosophy based on respect for the child and the search for fulfillment.
Pauline Kergomard and
Charles Defodon co-edited the ''Ami de l'enfance'', the organ of the French maternal educational system. In 1884 the French Chamber's budget commission considered eliminating all inspectresses general of nursery schools. The ''L'Ami de l'enfance'' raised the alarm. Defodon praised the inspectorate as a French tradition that made use of women's distinctive maternal talents.
Caroline de Barrau
Caroline de Barrau (1828–88) was a wealthy French educationalist, feminist, author and philanthropist.
She became interested in the education of girls, created a school in Paris where her daughter was taught, and encouraged her daughter and other ...
noted that nursery schools had been founded as an initiative of women which the state then chose to support. She disparaged the regime by comparison to its predecessors, who had introduced inspectresses general. The unsatisfactory compromise was to dismiss or retire four of the inspectresses and retain the other four.
From 1886 to 1892 Kergomard was a member of the higher council of public education. Her work led to reform of asylums and the creation of kindergartens with a completely new and secular system of education. She attended the 1896 International Feminist Congress in Paris, presided over by
Marie Bonnevial, which discussed coeducation. The
Prévost orphanage
The Prévost orphanage in Cempuis (french: L'Orphelinat Prévost de Cempuis) was an orphanage in northern France best known for its experimental libertarian education under the direction of anarchist pedagogue Paul Robin between 1880 and 1894.
...
, the first mixed school in France, received much attention. She and
Léopold Lacour
Léopold Lacour (9 February 1854 – 1939) was an influential French teacher, sociologist, writer and feminist.
Biography
Léopold Lacour was born in 1854.
He attended the ''École Normale Supérieure'' and graduated with distinction.
He then ta ...
were able to obtain agreement on the final resolution, in favor of changing to a coeducational system in all countries. In 1897 she co-founded the "People's Union" with
Ferdinand Buisson
Ferdinand Édouard Buisson (20 December 1841 – 16 February 1932) was a French academic, educational bureaucrat, pacifist and Radical-Socialist (left liberal) politician. He presided over the League of Education from 1902 to 1906 and the Human R ...
,
Maurice Bouchor
Maurice Bouchor (18 November 1855 – 18 January 1929) was a French poet.
He was born in Paris. He published in succession ''Chansons joyeuses'' (1874), ''Poèmes de l'amour et de la mer'' (1875), ''Le Faust moderne'' (1878) in prose and verse, ...
,
Émile Duclaux
Émile Duclaux (24 June 1840 – May 2, 1904) was a French microbiologist and chemist born in Aurillac, Cantal.
He studied at the College of Aurillac, the Lycée Saint-Louis in Paris and at École Normale Supérieure. In 1862 he began work as ...
and
Théodore Steeg
Théodore Steeg () (19 December 1868 – 19 December 1950) was a lawyer and professor of philosophy who became Premier of the French Third Republic.
Steeg entered French politics in 1904 as a radical socialist, although his views were generally m ...
.
Legacy
In France, as of 2015, 113 educational institutions,
[Luc Bronner et Maxime Vaudano]
"De Jules Ferry à Pierre Perret, l'étonnant palmarès des noms d'écoles, de collèges et de lycées en France
''Les décodeurs'', at lemonde.fr, 18 April 2015. many of them beging kindergartens.
There are streets bearing her name at
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
and
Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920.
The earlies ...
, at Ducos (Martinique) and at
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
.
A 1,70 F commemorative stamp was issued on the Journée internationale des femmes, 8 March 1985.
See also
*
Nursery Schools of France
Bibliography
* ''Galerie enfantine illustres'' (1879)
* ''Les Biens de la terre, causeries enfantines'' (1879)
* ''L'Amiral Coligny'' (1881)
* ''Nouvelles enfantines'' (1881)
* ''Une brouille de peu de durée. Les Convives de Gabrielle. Fileuse et couseuse'' (1883)
* ''Histoire de France des petits enfants'' (1883)
*
L'Éducation maternelle dans l'école' (1886)
* ''Cinquante images expliquées'' (album pour les enfants, 1890)
*
' (1895)
* ''Heureuse rencontre'' (1895)
*
Les Écoles maternelles, décrets, règlements et circulaires en vigueur' (1905)
* ''Les Écoles maternelles de 1837 jusqu'en 1910, aperçu rapide'' (1910)
* ''L'Enfant de deux à six ans''
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
Pauline Kergomardon
data.bnf.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kergomard, Pauline
People from Bordeaux
1838 births
1925 deaths
19th-century French educators
French educators
French Protestants
Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
French educational theorists
20th-century French educators