The Camphill Movement is an initiative for social change based on the principles of

anthroposophy Anthroposophy is a spiritual new religious movementSources for 'new religious movement': which was founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensibl ...

. Camphill

communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place (geography), place, set of Norm (social), norms, culture, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Ide ...

are residential communities and schools that provide support for the education, employment, and daily lives of adults and children with

developmental disabilities Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, espe ...

, mental health problems, or other special needs. There are over 100 Camphill communities in more than 20 countries across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Founding

The movement was founded in 1939 at Kirkton House near

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

by a group that included

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n paediatrician

Karl König Karl König (25 September 1902 – 27 March 1966) was an Austrian paediatrician who founded the Camphill Movement, an international movement of therapeutic intentional community, intentional communities for those with special needs or disabilitie ...

. It was König's view that every human being possessed a healthy "inner personality" that was independent of their outer characteristics, including characteristics marking developmental or mental disability, and the role of the school was to recognize, nurture and educate this essential self.Marga Hogenboom,''Living With Genetic Syndromes Associated With Mental Disability'', Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2001 The communities' philosophy,

, states that "a perfectly formed spirit and destiny belong to each human being."Busalle, Rebecca, Cornelius Pietzner, and Stephan Rasch. "The life of the soul". ''Aperture'', Summer 1996 n144: 26(10). The underlying principles of König's Camphill school were derived from concepts of education and social life outlined decades earlier by anthroposophist

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (; 27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century ...

(1861–1925).Today there are over 100 communities worldwide, in more than 20 countries, mainly in Europe, but also in North America and Southern Africa.

History

The Camphill Movement takes its name from Camphill Estate in the Milltimber area of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, where the Camphill pioneers moved to with their first community for children with special needs in June 1940. Camphill Estate is now a campus of Camphill School Aberdeen. There are six Camphills in the

area. The Camphill School Aberdeen was noted in the HMI/Care Commission report for 2007 as meeting "very good" to "excellent" standards, The school also holds Autism Accreditation from the

National Autistic Society The National Autistic Society is a charity for autistic people and their families in the United Kingdom. Since 1962, the National Autistic Society has been providing support, guidance and advice, as well as campaigning for improved rights, ser ...

. The Botton village received the Deputy Prime Minister's Award for Sustainable Communities in 2005; the award cited the community's dedication to the ethos of sustainability and mutual respect, as well as their concrete achievements in these areas."The Deputy Prime Minister's Award." ''Learning Disability Practice'' 9.2 (March 2006): 26(1)

References

External links

Camphill movement websiteCamphill communities in England and WalesCamphill ScotlandOfficial Karl König InstituteRudolf Steiner Archive, An Online LibraryHatch Camphill Community
{{authority control International educational organizations Organizations established in 1939 Anthroposophy Special education 1939 establishments in Scotland Intentional communities in the United Kingdom

Founding

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links