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The Garvald Centres are a group of six affiliated but independent Scottish charities that support people with special needs and learning disabilities. It is based on the work of the Austrian esotericist Rudolf Steiner. The charities operate in the Midlothian, Scottish Borders and Edinburgh area of Scotland.
The Garvald School and Training Centre was founded near West Linton in 1944 by Dr Hans Schauder, his wife Lisl and others who decided to join him after working at the Camphill community in Aberdeen for some years. Dr Schauder himself was of Viennese origin and had fled Austria some years previously as he came from a Jewish family. Connected with anthroposophy, the medical and therapeutic work of Rudolf Steiner and with the group around Karl König, he had been among the founders of Camphill. After working at Garvald for some years he opened his own practice in Edinburgh and developed his own method of counselling until meeting the Dominican friar, Lefébure, with whom he wrote his best-known work Conversations on Counselling. [1]
The Garvald school later became the Garvald Training Centre and later became six independent communities:
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The centres are based on the work of Rudolf Steiner, in particular his ideas on social therapy expressed through the type of opportunities provided, the approach and the interdependence they try to create. The goals are to give structure and rhythm to member's lives, bring people together to form a solid community through common activities or the celebration of events and emphasize the quality of what the workshops produce so that everyone can take pride in achieving the best possible. Within this philosophy, the items produced should have a value or benefit to others rather than making things for one’s own sake.
They provide creative working environments focusing mainly on craft, catering, artistic skills and agriculture. There is a focus on craft activities because they strive to offer a wide range of possibilities for people to express creativity. Crafts are also a tool used to encourage a connection to nature. In addition, they engage in approaches such as the talking points methodology, which focuses on outcomes for service-users and carers. The centres themselves produced Talking Points tools which have been designed specifically for people with learning disabilities. The program hopes that by providing these resources, there is an opportunity for anyone coming to one of the Garvald centres to affect their environment and community — local and beyond. A range of therapies like eurythmy, creative speech, massage and various other therapeutic arts are also offered.
In addition to providing structured and creative working environments, the majority of their studios and workshops have an enterprise focus: returning income to offset running costs. These opportunities are designed to help people gain confidence, with a focus on those leaving school and transitioning into adulthood. The workshops teach skills that one can apply in a work environment as well as skills to continue developing their creativity.
They have experience in supporting people with a range of needs and syndromes including autism, Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, epilepsy, Prader Willi Syndrome, dual diagnosis and those with other physical and communication difficulties. Members' ages range from sixteen to the mid seventies.
Anthroposophy is a spiritualist movement which was founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, accessible to human experience. Followers of anthroposophy aim to engage in spiritual discovery through a mode of thought independent of sensory experience. While much of anthroposophy is pseudoscientific, proponents claim to present their ideas in a manner that is verifiable by rational discourse and say that they seek precision and clarity comparable to that obtained by scientists investigating the physical world.
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a literary critic and published works including The Philosophy of Freedom. At the beginning of the twentieth century he founded an esoteric spiritual movement, anthroposophy, with roots in German idealist philosophy and theosophy. His teachings have been described as similar to Christian Gnosticism. Many of his ideas are pseudoscientific. He was also prone to pseudohistory.
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Steiner Schools Australia refers to the independent, private body of kindergarten, primary and secondary schools based on the Waldorf education system across Australia. Steiner Education operates in over 50 locations across the various states and territories in Australia, providing educational playgroups, kindergartens, primary schools and comprehensive K-12 school programs. Steiner Education is recognised by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) as an ‘alternative’ form of education and operates mainly within private independent schools with a small presence within public schools as Steiner streams. Steiner schools in Australia are represented by Steiner Education Australia, a not-for-profit organisation. Steiner Education has also attracted debate and criticism for its similarities to religious forms of education from the various states and territories.
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Dr Hans Schauder, was a British medical adviser and counsellor, co-founder of Camphill Community, founder of Garvald School & Training Centre
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