Georg Kerschensteiner

Georg Kerschensteiner (born July 29, 1854, Munich, Bavaria [Germany]—died Jan. 15, 1932, Munich, Ger.) was a German educational theorist and reformer who was a leader in the growth of vocational education in Germany.

Kerschensteiner taught mathematics in Nürnberg and Schweinfurt before being named director of public schools in Munich in 1895. In that post, which he held until 1919, and as a professor at the University of Munich from 1920, he advocated a pragmatic approach to elementary and secondary education, blending classical studies with manual labour. He also developed a system of vocational schools in Munich. He wrote extensively both on the necessity of a well-rounded education that includes physical activities and on the value of purely vocational education, and he summarized many of his theories in his last major work, Theorie der Bildungsorganisation (1933).