Ovide Decroly

Jean-Ovide Decroly (1871 to 1932) was a Belgian teacher and psychologist, born in Ronse and died in Uccle. He studied medicine at the University of Ghent and spent half a year at the University of Berlin in 1898, where he studied the action of toxins and antitoxins on general nutrition. He later worked with mentally handicapped children at the neurological clinic in Brussels, an experience that fed into his educational thinking. In 1907 he founded The Hermitage School, and the Ecole Decroly in Uccle, Brussels, a school from kindergarten to baccalaureate, still follows his pedagogical approach. The Decroly plan set out ground rules for the social adaptation of children as biological organisms and concluded that schooling is needed to meet their biosocial needs. Followers of Decroly have started schools that focus on these biosocial needs.