Bernard Lievegoed
Bernardus Cornelis Johannes Lievegoed (2 September 1905, Medan – 12 December 1992, Zeist) was a Dutch medical doctor, psychiatrist and author. He is most famous for establishing a theory of organizational development. He founded the N.P.I., or Netherlands Pedagogical Institute, which works with organizations and individuals to help these realize their economic, social and cultural goals. He also founded the Vrije Hogeschool in Driebergen.[1]
Life
Bernard Lievegoed was born in
In 1931 Lievegoed founded the Zonnehuis,[2] a home for children with disabilities, in Bosch in Duin. The Zonnehuis was later relocated to Zeist and, in the course of its expansion its name was changed to the Zonnehuizen Veldheim Steinia te Zeist. Lievegoed was the director of this institution from its founding until 1954.
In 1932 Lievegoed helped to found the Vrije School (free Waldorf school) of Zeist. In 1939 he did a higher doctorate (promotion) with a thesis about the therapeutic use of music. In 1946 he published the first of a number of books, Ontwikkelingsfasen van het kind; this was translated into eight languages and appeared in English as Phases of Childhood.
From 1948 to 1953 Lievegoed was a consultant for assistance to uneducated working-class children. During this time he published Planetenwirken und Lebensprozesse in Mensch und Erde (Planetary Influences and Life Processes in the Human Being and the Earth). In 1952 he cofounded the Vrij Geestesleven publishing house, oriented towards publishing works related to
In 1954 he founded the institution that became his life-work, the NPI. The original name, the Dutch Pedagogic Institute for Economics, was later changed to NPI: Institute for Organizational Development.
Between 1968 and 1976 Lievegoed was chair of a governmental commission on education that was given the task of transforming the educational system in the Netherlands. During this time he published a number of works (titles are given in approximate English translation): Organizational Development, Social Structures in Therapeutic Education, The Spiritual Impulse behind the Movement for Therapeutic Education, Towards the 21st Century and, together with his wife Nel Lievegoed-Schatborn, Aspects of Therapeutic Education. In 1971 he founded an independent university, the Vrije Hogeschool, in Driebergen. He was Dean of the University for the next eleven years.
In 1973 he left Erasmus University to cofound and become the managing director of the Vrije Pedagogisch Akademie, now Hogeschool Helicon (Helicon College). Over the next years, he published several more books: Phases (De levensloop van de mens, translated into eleven languages), Mystery Streams in Europe and the New Mysteries, and Organic Architecture. He joined the governmental commission on alternative medicine (1977–1981).
In 1983 Lievegoed published a play (De wadlopers, The Marsh-Flats) and another book, Man on the Threshold: Possibilities and Problems of Inner Development. He received the Gouden Ganzenveer honoring his cultural contributions;[6] the report cited his complete works as the basis for the prize. Further publications: Contemplations on the Foundation Stone (1987), About Cultural Institutions (1988), Through the Eye of the Needle (1991) and About the Salvation of the Soul (published posthumously in 1993).
Lievegoed died on 12 December 1992 in Zeist.
Books by Bernard Lievegoed
- Man on the Threshold - The Challenge of Inner Development
- The Developing Organization
- Managing the Developing Organization
- Phases - The Spiritual Rhythms in Adult Life
- Phases of Childhood
- The Eye of the Needle - Life and Working Encounter with Anthroposophy
- The Battle for the Soul - The working together of three great leaders of humanity
- Mystery Streams in Europe and the New Mysteries
- Towards the 21st Century: Doing the Good
References
- ^ "Home". vrijehogeschool.nl.
- ^ "Zonnehuizen Veldheim - Zonnehuizenveldheimstenia.nl - Een introductie in Antroposofie". Archived from the original on 2019-08-26. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
- ^ "Home". npi.eu.
- ^ Foreword by Ronnie Lessem in the 1991 Blackwell edition
- ^ Senge, Peter M., Scharmer, C. Otto, Jaworski, Joseph, Flowers, Betty Sue, 2004, Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society
- ^ "Laureaten De Gouden Ganzenveer vanaf 1955". Stichting De Gouden Ganzenveer. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-02-25. Retrieved 2009-07-28.