HERMANN GMEINER – THE FOUNDER OF SOS-CHILDREN’S VILLAGE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24919/2413-2039.8/40.164446Keywords:
SOS-Children’s Village, Hermann Gmeiner, family educational model, children, custody, upbringing, universal human valuesAbstract
KARPENKO Oresta – Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Social Pedagogy and Correctional Education Department, Drohobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University, Franko Str., 24, Drohobych, 82100, Ukraine
E-mail address: ochepil@gmail.com
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1841-882X
ResearcherID: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/M-3929-2015
To cite this article: Karpenko, O. (2019). Hermann Gmeiner – the founder of SOS-Children’s Village. Liudynoznavchi studii. Seriia «Pedahohika» – Human Studies. Series of «Pedagogy», 8/40, 158–172. doi: 10.24919/2413-2039.8/40.164446.
Article history
Received: December 14, 2018
Received in revised form: January 18, 2019
Accepted: February 18, 2019
Available online: April 22, 2019
Journal homepage: http://lssp.dspu.edu.ua/
p-ISSN 2313-2094
e-ISSN 2413-2039
© 2019 The Author. Human studies. Series of «Pedagogy» published by Drohobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University & Open Journal Systems. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).
Abstract. This article describes the humanistically directed essence of the pedagogical concept of Hermann Gmeiner (1919–1986) – the founder of the first SOS Children’s Village in Imst (Austria). Attention is focused on the embodiment of the idea of family education of children in practice, difficulties and the search for ways to implement it. It was stated that there could be many reasons for the impetus for the creation of the first SOS Children’s Village: the early loss of the mother, and the fate of his younger brother Anton, who grew up without her, his sister Elsa’s care, and the fact that during the war he was saved by a Ukrainian guy, who called him a brother, and especially a meeting with a 12-year-old orphan in Innsbruck in the winter of 1947, forever left a mark on the soul of an Austrian humanist and became a turning point in his life.
He built the concept of the SOS Children’s Village from his own experience. Love and security, responsibility and establishing social contacts, keeping order, openness of the SOS Children’s Village, support for children of different ages – all these are proclaimed like the values of upbringing. The wide significance of custody and upbringing of orphans and children deprived of parental care, meeting their most important physical and mental needs, promoting health and well-being, ensuring their self-realization and self-improvement are highlighted. The stages of admission of children to the SOS Children’s Village are described.
H. Gmeiner was convinced that the only fair and proper thing for disadvantaged children is the creation of a «family educational model» that will be able to return not only their lost home and family, but also the ability to develop normally in conditions of security and love. Despite the crushing criticism and frank resistance of opponents, H. Gmeiner boldly defended the idea of a SOS Children’s Village, in the practical implementation of which very few people believed.
The pedagogical ideas of H. Gmeiner are based on the practice pervaded by common human values (manhood, humanity, love, morality, trust, mutual understanding, etc.). Today in the SOS Children’s Village Imst there are 12 family-type homes with 42 children, function a kindergarten and a care center, which provides short-term assistance to parents in crisis situations. H. Gmeiner’s pedagogical ideas are relevant for the Ukrainian educational space, deserve a comprehensive study and further application in solving social and educational problems in Ukraine in accordance with European requirements. The idea of SOS Children’s Village as a socio-pedagogical institution can form the basis for solving the problems of guardianship and upbringing of social orphans, children deprived of parental care.
Acknowledgements. Sincere thanks to staff at International Organisation SOS Children’s Village, in particular Christian Posch (Innsbruck).
Funding. Funding from OEAD Scholarship Program permitted this research completion.
References
Aldgate, J. (1989). Foster families and residential care for older children: some interpersonal dynamics. Children & Society, 3 (1), 19–36. doi: 10.1111/j.1099-0860.1989.tb00566.x.
Andersson, G. (2009). Foster children: A longitudinal study of placements and family relationship. International Journal of Social Welfare, 18 (1), 13–26. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2397.2008.00570.x.
Chepil, M. (2016). Problemy wychowania w pedagogicznej koncepcji Sofii Rusovej [Problems of education in the pedagogical concept of Sofia Rusova]. Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska. Sectio J. Paedagogia-Psychologia, 29 (2), 111–120 [in Polish].
Die SOS-Kinderdörfer und ihre Mütter [SOS Children’s Village and their mothers]. (1967). Nachdruck aus «Das Beste aus Reader’s Digest» – Reprinted from «The Best of Reader’s Digest», 1, 3–4 [in German].
Ein Kinderdorf Tirol [Children’s Village in Tirol]. (1951). Innsbruck: SOS-Kdf. Verl. [in German].
Frauenleben: Mutter von neun fremden Kinder. Ein Frauenberuf, zu dem man geboren sein muss [Woman life: mother of nine strange children. A woman’s job to be born to]. (1962, May 13). Der Tagesspiegel – The Day Mirrow, рр. 11–12 [in German].
Fuchs, H., Strasser, M., & Posch, Ch. (Eds.). (1995). Trends und pädagogische Entwicklungen in den österreichischen SOS-Kinderdörfern [Trends and pedagogical developments in the Austrian SOS Children’s Villages]. Innsbruck, Wien: Tyrolia-Verl. [in German].
Gmeiner, H. (1960). Die SOS-Kinderdörfer: Moderne Erziehungsstätten für verlassene Kinder [The SOS Children’s Villages: modern educational institutions for abandoned children]. Innsbruck: SOS-Kdf. Verl. [in German].
Gmeiner, H. (1987a). Eindrücke. Gedanken. Bekentnisse [Impressions. Thoughts. Beliefs]. Innsbruck: SOS-Kdf. Verl. [in German].
Gmeiner, H. (1987b). Meine Töchter, meine Söhne [My daughters, my sons]. Innsbruck, München: SOS-Kdf. Verl. [in German].
Gmeiner, H. (2006). Alle Kinder dieser Welt. Die Botschaft des SOS-Kinderdorf-Vaters [All children of this world. the embassy of the SOS Children’s Village Father]. Wien: Styria. [in German].
Goparaj, H., & Sharma, R.R. (2008). From social development to human development: a case of SOS Village. Vision, 12 (1), 67–75. doi: 10.1177/097226290801200109.
Hilweg, W. (1986). Das fremduntergebrachte Kind im SOS-Kinderdorf [The alienated child in the SOS Children’s Village]. Innsbruck: SOS-Kdf. Verl. [in German].
Honsal, C. (2009). Für die Kinder dieser Welt: Hermann Gmeiner: der Vater der SOS-Kinderdörfer. Die Biografie [For the children of this world: Hermann Gmeiner: the Father of the SOS Children’s Villages. The biography]. München: Kösel [in German].
Karpenko, O. (2012). Pedahohichni idei Hermana Hmainera (1919 – 1986) [Pedagogical ideas of Hermann Gmeiner (1919 – 1986)]. Drohobych: DDPU im. I. Franka [in Ukrainian].
Kharchenko, L., & Tuntuieva, S. (2012). Simeini formy vykhovannia ditei-syrit ta ditei, pozbavlenykh batkivskoho pikluvannia v diialnosti Mizhnarodnoi blahodiinoi orhanizatsii «Blahodiinyi fond «SOS Dytiache Mistechko» [Custody family forms of orphans and children deprived of parental care in the activities of the International Charitable Organization «Charitable Foundation «SOS Children’s Village»]. Visnyk Luhanskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni Tarasa Shevchenka. Pedahohichni nauky – Herald of Lugansk National Taras Shevchenko University. Pedagogical sciences, 19 (2), 180–185 [in Ukrainian].
Mütterstatut des SOS-Kinderdorf e. V. [Mothers Statute of the SOS Children’s Village]. (1965). Innsbruck: SOS-Kdf. Verl. [in German].
Posch, Ch., & Thyringer, M. (Eds.). (1999). Lebensraum für Jugendliche und Kinder [Living space for youth and children]. Dornbirn: SOS-Kdf. Verl. [in German].
Programm 2009/2010 Ausbildung Wieterbildung [Program 2009/2010 training continuing education]. (2009). Colleg für Familien Pädagogik ‒ College for Family Education. Wels. [in German].
Protokol der Gründugsversammlung der «Societas Socialis» [Protocol of founding meeting of «Societas Socialis»]. (1949, April 25). pp. 1–2. Innsbruck: SOS-Kdf. Verl. [in German].
Redfern, S., Wood, S., Lassri, D., Cirasola, A. et al. (2018). The Reflective fostering programme: background and development of a new approach. Adoption & Fostering, 42 (3), 234–248. doi: 10.1177/0308575918790434.
Reinprecht, H. (1989). Hermann Gmeiner. Abenteuer Nächstenliebe [Hermann Gmeiner. Adventure charity]. Wien: Öst. Bundesverl [in German].
Schreiber, H., & Vyslozil, W. (2001). Die Dynamik der frühen Jahre [The dynamics of the early years]. Innsbruck, München: SOS-Kdf. Verl. [in German].
Skrypnyk, L. (2010). «Dytiache mistechko SOS» – odna iz form sotsialno-pedahohichnoi pidtrymky ditei, pozbavlenykh batkivskoho pikluvannia [«SOS Children’s Village» – one of the forms of social and pedagogical support for children deprived of parental care]. Problemy zahalnoi ta pedahohichnoi psykholohii – Problems of general and pedagogical psychology, 12 (2), 302–309 [in Ukrainian].
SOS-Kinderdorf [SOS Children’s Village]. Retrieved November 25, 2018, from www.sos-kinderdorf.at [in German].
Stadelmann, L. (1970). Hermann Gmeiner: Ein Leben für die Mutterlosen [Hermann Gmeiner: A life for the motherless]. Dornbirn: Verl. Neues Leben [in German].
Then, V. (1988). Die SOS-Kinderdörfer in Deutschland [The SOS Children’s Villages in Germany]. München: SOS-Kdf. Verl. [in German].
Unrau, Y. (2007). Research on placement moves: Seeking the perspective of foster children. Children and Youth Services Review, 29 (1), 122–137. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2006.08.003" target="_blank">10.1016/j.childyouth.2006.08.003.
Vlasova, O. (1993). Problemy profesiinoi pidhotovky vykhovateliv dytiachykh mistechok u spadshchyni Hermana Hmainera [Problems of vocational training of children’s village educators in the legacy of Hermann Gmeiner]. (Candidate’s thesis). Kyiv: Kyivskyi derzhavnyi pedahohichnyi instytut inozemnykh mov [in Ukrainian].
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2019 Human Studies. Series of “Pedagogy”
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Editorial policy and ethics of the scholarly journal Human Studies. Series of Pedagogy is grounded on the recommendations of Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE), best practice of Ukrainian and international academic societies, institutions and editorial boards of scientific periodicals, and also on the Ethic Standards of Ukrainian Scientists. Scientists should be confident of reliability and soundness of their own researches and their colleagues’, as well. Unfortunately, this situation has not been flawless recently, as now and then one can face the ethics violations, which in an undermining factor for people’ trust to science and those of the academic world. To prevent such a situation in Ukraine, every researcher should be wholly concern to follow the ethic requirements and be fully aware of the public opinion forming he is responsible for.
Ethical Obligations of Authors
- An author presents a concise and accurate report of the research and an objective discussion of its significance. A primary research report should contain sufficient and clear detail and its findings should be amenable to verification by peers with no data distortion or manipulation.
- An author bears responsibility for the scientific content as well as the fact of publication.
- An author should cite those publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work and that will guide the reader quickly to the earlier work that is essential for understanding the present investigation. It is necessary that the fundamental sources used in this research, if not obtained by an author, should be properly cited.
- It is not acceptable to represent plagiarism as original work for publication or previously published articles. An Author should bear responsibility, should this be disclosed.
- Those who have contributed significantly to the research and share the responsibility for obtained results should be listed as co-authors. On submission of the manuscript, the corresponding author attests to the fact that those named as co-authors have agreed to its submission for publication and accepts the responsibility for having properly included all (and only) co-authors.
- An author should reveal to the editor any potential conflict of interest that might be affected by publication of the results contained in a manuscript.
- An author should identify the source of all information quoted or offered, all references to the sources used in the research should be provided in accordance with APA.
- The editorial board reserves the right to reject the manuscript that does not meet the set standards.
Publication Agreement and Copyright License
This is a publication agreement and copyright license (“Agreement”) regarding a written or contribution to the manuscript currently entitled ________________________________________________________________
The parties to this Agreement are: _____________________________________ (individually, or if more than one author, collectively, “Author”)
and Drohobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University, publisher and copyright owner of the Human Studies. Series of Pedagogy in the person of Rector Mrs. Skotna N.V. (“Publisher”).
1. LICENSE OF COPYRIGHT
a) Author grants to the Publisher a royalty-free, worldwide, non-exclusive license to publish, reproduce, display, distribute, and use the Work in any form and in any media, in whole or in part, either separately or as part of a collective work, including but not limited to a nonexclusive license to publish the Work in an issue of the Publication, copy and distribute individual reprints of the Work, authorize reproduction of the entire Work in another publication, and authorize reproduction and distribution of the Work or an abstract thereof by the means of computerizes retrieval system. The Author retains ownership of all rights under copyright in the Work (or portion of the written by the Author), and all rights not expressly granted in this Agreement.
b) The Author grants to the Publisher the power to assign, sublicense, or otherwise transfer any and all licenses expressly granted to the Publisher under this Agreement.
c) Republication. The Author agrees to require that the Publisher be given credit as the original publisher in any republication of the World authorizes by the Author. If the Publisher authorizes any other party to republish the Work under the terms of paragraphs 1a and 1b of this Agreement, the Publisher shall require such party to ensure that the Author is credited as the Author.
2. EDITING OF THE WORK
The Author agrees that the Publisher may edit the Work as suitable for inclusion in the Publication. To the extent that the Publisher’s edits amount to copyrightable works of authorship, the Publisher hereby assigns all right, title, and interest in such edits to the Author. The Publisher agrees to publish the Work subject to the understanding that the Work will not be published in the Publication unless, in its final form, the Work is acceptable to both the Author and the Publisher.
3. WARRANTIES
a)The Author represents and warrants that, to the best of the Author’s knowledge, the Work does not defame any person, does not invade the privacy of any person, and does not in any other manner infringe upon the rights of any person. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Publisher against all such claims.
b) The Author represents and warrants that the Author has full power and authority to enter into this Agreement and to grant the licenses granted in this Agreement.
c)The Author represents and warrants that the Work furnished to the Publisher has not been published previously.
4. TERM
This Agreement shall remain in effect for as long as copyright protection subsists in the Work as defined by the copyright laws of each country in the World.
5.PAYMENT
The Author agrees and acknowledges that the Author will receive no payment from the Publisher for use of the Work or the licenses granted in this Agreement, unless separately negotiated in writing. The Publisher will publish the Work and will provide the Author with print copy of the bound Publication in which the Work appears as per its normal policy. The Author will have the opportunity to order additional reprints at the Author’s expense before the Publication containing the Work goes to press.
6. ENTIRE AGREEMENT
a. This Agreement supersedes any and all other agreements, either oral or in writing, between the Author and the Publisher with respect to the subject of this Agreement. This Agreement contains all of the warranties and agreements between the parties with respect to the Work, and each party acknowledges that no representations, inducements, promises, or agreements have been made by or on behalf of any party expect those warranties and agreements embodied in this Agreement.
Author(s):___________ Publisher: Skotna N.V.,
Signed:_____________ Drohobych Ivan Franko
Date:_______________ State Pedagogical University
Signed:_____________________
Date:_______________________
