Gruner, Gottlieb Anton

Pedagogue

born: 10.03.1778 in Coburg

died: 13.05.1844 in Wiesbaden

Gruner studied theology, history and philosophy in Göttingen and Jena from 1797-1800 and received his doctorate. He then worked as court master at the royal court in Copenhagen from 1801-03. He then traveled to various renowned educators, whereby his encounter with Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) in Burgdorf in Switzerland was decisive. He stayed here for several months from 1803 and gained experience with Pestalozzi's pedagogy, which made him an advocate of popular education.

From 1805-10, he was principal of the "Musterschule" in Frankfurt am Main. When the school was converted into a secondary school, he resigned, worked as a private lecturer at the University of Heidelberg in 1811 and as a grammar school professor in Coburg from 1812.

In 1817, Gruner became director of the newly founded teacher training college in Idstein. At this time, the simultaneous school was introduced in the Duchy of Nassau and Gruner was to train suitable teachers at the Idstein seminary. The well-funded institute was highly regarded and attracted renowned teachers. With his work, Gruner rendered outstanding services to the expansion of the Simultanschule in Nassau. He was promoted to head teacher in 1821.

He retired in 1828, ill and almost blind. He spent his retirement in Wiesbaden.

In memory of Gruner, the city's oldest school building in the Bergkirch district, inaugurated in 1844, bears the name "Anton Gruner School". Gruner's main works include "Briefe aus Burgdorf über Pestalozzi, seine Methode und Anstalt" (1804) and "Über Volksschulwesen und Volksveredelung" (1833).