Jan Waterink (20 October 1890 – 29 November 1966) was a Dutch pastor, psychologist and educationist who pioneered approaches to the testing and instruction of children with special needs. Waterink was born in

Den Hulst Den Hulst, spelled at times ''De Hulst'' and traditionally pronounced ''Nulst'' locally is a historical Dutch hamlet which was incorporated into the village and municipality of Nieuwleusen (today in the municipality of Dalfsen). The northern part o ...

where his family, originally from

Nieuwleusen Nieuwleusen (Low German, Low Saxon: ''Ni'jlusen'') is a town in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Overijssel with 9300 inhabitants as of 2021. In the 2001 municipal reform, most of the former municipality of Nieuwleusen was incorporated into the ...

, lived. His father was a pastor and he went to the Gymnasium at Kampen followed by theological studies. He worked as a pastor in

Appelscha Appelscha (; Stellingwarfs: ''Appelsche'') is a village in the municipality of Ooststellingwerf in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. It has just under 4,800 inhabitants. History and background Appelscha is a village of about 490 hectares ...

and then at

Zutphen Zutphen () is a city and municipality located in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It lies some northeast of Arnhem, on the eastern bank of the river IJssel at the point where it is joined by the Berkel. First mentioned in the 11th centur ...

. He studied social geography at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

and received a doctorate in theology from the Free University in Amsterdam in March 1923. He then taught at the Lyceum in Zutphen and served as professor of pedagogy. He also served as rector magnificus of the Free University several times. Waterink founded a Psychotechnical Laboratory in 1927 where he established psychological tests which included puzzles and memory tests. He then became an advisor to the Reformed School Association. With a growing need for dealing with children and their education, he founded a Paedological Institute in 1931 which later subsumed the Psychotechnical Laboratory. During the Nazi period, Waterink hid Jewish children at institute. The institute became independent of the church in 1941. Waterink did not do much of the research himself but as an administrator he was much sought after around the world for advice. He married Joukje van der Kam in 1914 and the couple had no children.

References

{{authority control 20th-century Dutch educators 1890 births 1966 deaths Burials at Zorgvlied Cemetery