Tysovs'ky received his Doctor of Philosophy for his research in comparative anatomy. After he was granted a State scholarship, he took a course of oceanography in Bergen, Norway, and visited zoological gardens and museums in Germany. Having passed the teacher's state examinations, Tysovs'ky started his teaching career at the Ukrainian Gymnasium, the only one in Lviv at that time. Realizing his true calling for teaching and educating, he unhesitatingly came out openly against the backward methods of education of that time, publishing a series of articles on this matter on the pages of the Lviv newspaper "Dilo."

In his practical work, he was guided by the principles of establishing more natural and democratic relations between the pupil and the teacher. Coming from a patriotic Ukrainian family, Tysovs'ky recognized the necessity of radical changes in the methods of education for the good of the Ukrainian people, at a time when Galicia experienced a raising of its national and cultural life.

Owing to the Austrian school system, and the great Polish influence in Galicia, the young teacher recognized the impossibility of realizing his designs within the school. Therefore he established and realized an out-of-school education system for Ukrainian youths, founding an organization for patriotic, all-round self-education. He registered this organization officially in 1911, attaching it to the Ukrainian Academic Gymnasium of Lviv. The organization, called Plast, broadened and expanded rapidly throughout Galicia. Tysovs'ky separated the Plast from school, giving it the freedom to realize its ideas.

 At the same time, he took active part in public activities, being one the leaders of the "Uchytel s'ka hromada" (The Teacher's Community), and also full member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the sport society, "Sokil Bat'ko." Beside teaching at the gymnasium, he also taught at the Courses of Higher Education, which were organized in 1912 by the "Prosvita," as well as at the Lviv (Underground) Ukrainian University, which was established in 1919.

The beginning of World War I in 1914 interrupted the intensive educational work of Tysovs'ky. He was evacuated to Vienna where he was called up for military service, but shortly afterwards discharged to continue his work in the school system.

In 1923 he married the Plast scout Iryna Studyns'ka, the daughter of the University professor, Dr. Kyryl Studyns'ky. Recognizing the need for a book for practical Plast scouting, Tysovs’ky published the handbook, "Zhyttia v Plasti" (Life in Plast) in 1921. A second supplementary edition came out in 1961. This was actually the "code" of Plast principles, the laws and rules on which the movement was established.

He presided over the Supreme Plast Council unfailingly from the time of its foundation until 1930, when the Plast was prohibited by the Polish authorities. In 1939, during the organization of the Lviv University, Dr. Tysovs'ky was appointed professor of zoology, and during the years of the German occupation of Lviv he was assistant in the Higher Agronomic Courses. In 1944, Tysovs'ky moved to Vienna where with great difficulties he found a situation at the Zoological Institute of the Vienna University.

Having lost his home and almost all of his belongings during a terrible bombing at the beginning of 1945, he and his family found themselves in very strained circumstances. Only later, after he became and Austrian citizen, he was granted a pension as a University professor.

Tysovs'ky took an active part in the life of Ukrainian communities in Austria, having headed a number of public organizations. With great interest he followed the rebirth of the Plast at the internment camps in post-war Germany, carried on a lively correspondence with the Plast fraternity on all continents, and visited Plast centers, both in Europe and abroad. Oleksander Tysovs'ky died on the 29th of March, 1968, and was buried in Vienna. Reborn in Ukraine in 1989, Plast continues the famous traditions of the organization, the fundamentals of which were laid down by the founder and theorist Oleksander Tysovs'ky. In independent Ukraine the Plast Oath remains unwavering, "... be faithful to God and Ukraine, help others, live up to the Plast laws, and be obedient to the Plast leaders."

LINKS TO UKRAINIAN SCOUTING-PLAST