FELLENBERG, PHILIPP EMANUEL VON

born June 27, 1771, Bern [Switzerland] died Nov. 21, 1844, Hofwil, near Bern Swiss educational reformer. In 1799 Fellenberg purchased the estate of Hofwil, where he founded a school combining manual training and agricultural and academic instruction. His social aim, to be achieved through education, was to try to raise the living conditions of the poor and to weld them and the upper classes together. At first he worked with J.H. Pestalozzi, but they separated over personal differences. Fellenberg's scheme initially provoked ridicule, but gradually pupils came to him from all over Europe, both for agricultural training and for the high moral training associated with his system.