Levytsky, Mykola F.

Levytsky, Mykola F. [Левицький, Микола; Levyts'kyj], b 8 June 1819 in the Chernihiv region, d 14 February 1885 in Kyiv. Pedagogue. He graduated from the theological seminary in Kyiv in 1841 and studied at Kyiv University. From 1846 he taught in the regions of Kyiv and Chernihiv, and from 1858 in secondary schools in the city of Kyiv. He proposed a new system of elementary education which would develop a child’s mind, fulfill society’s physical, moral, and aesthetic requirements, and instill and develop in children the desire for useful activity. Levytsky is the author of a number of scholarly articles on methodology and education at the elementary school level. His major work is Ocherki kursa gramotnosti (Outline for a Course in Literacy, Kyiv 1874).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]