How to Pronounce Maria Grzegorzewska
#50
Most Popular
Boost
Apr 18, 1888 Wołucza, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland Died on 07 May 1967 (aged 79)
educator who brought the special education movement to Poland
AriesMaria Grzegorzewska - Place of Birth, Date of Birth, Age, Wiki, Facts, Net Worth, Birthday, Biography and Family
Maria Grzegorzewska, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Family, Facts, Age, Net Worth, Biography and More in FamedBorn.com
About Maria Grzegorzewska
- Maria Grzegorzewska (18 April 1888 – 7 May 1967) was a Polish educator, who brought the special education movement to Poland.
- Born to a family from the Zmudz region, she was strongly influenced by her parents' beliefs in humanitarianism.
- After attending clandestine schools to earn her basic education from Polish rather than Russian educators, she obtained her teaching credentials in Lithuania.
- She continued her education at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and in 1913 joined her countrywoman, Józefa Joteyko in Brussels to study at the International Paedological Faculty.
- When her studies in Belgium were interrupted by World War I, Grzegorzewska made her way to Paris and earned her PhD from the Sorbonne in 1916. After the establishment of the Second Polish Republic, Grzegorzewska returned to Poland intent upon creating programs which addressed the needs of disabled children and introducing educational reforms to improve their lives.
- In 1919, she began working for the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education, establishing facilities for the care of disabled children, schools for special education, and training programs for teachers.
- Using her own methodology, she designed curricula which in 1922 was implemented at the newly founded State Institute of Special Education.
- She would direct this institute from its founding until her death. During World War II, Grzegorzewska worked as a nurse, was active in the Polish resistance movement, and taught in Warsaw.
- She joined Zegota and provided assistance to Jews.
- When Poland was liberated in 1945, Grzegorzewska reactivated the Special Education Institute and within five years introduced graduate and extramural courses to the curricula.
- In 1950, during Stalinism, the school was renamed the Panstwowe Studium Pedagogiki Specjalnej (State College of Special Education) and a state curricula was introduced.
- She struggled against the state program to protect special education and people with disabilities.
- After the 1956 thaw, the former name was reclaimed and she regained support from government authorities.
- Between 1957 and 1960, she served as a full professor at the University of Warsaw.
- Her work in science and for the Polish education system were honored with numerous awards and distinctions.
