Education of the body outside the school: the origins of school holiday camps in Spain

Abstract

School holiday camps began in Switzerland in 1876 and rapidly spread  throughout Europe until, by the early twentieth century, they had reached  other continents. The text analyses the beginnings of this international  movement, with special attention paid to Spain, social contexts, the incipient public actions aimed at child protection and also to the pedagogical and hygienist principals which lay behind the camps. The article looks at the reception and propagation processes of school camps in Spain from 1887 to 1936 and reflects on the changes to the original ideas, the rules which governed the camps and scope and development of these initiatives. Political and ideological factors which shaped the historical progress of the summer camps are also covered.