INSPIRATION for Meeting The Challenge of Education

I’ve just watched a very beautiful film about Rudolf Steiner, about the challenge he faced and the challenge he passed to each of us, (those of us who want or feel able to pick it up), a film looking at this extraordinary man as « Not just a thinker, but someone who contributes practical solutions in three major areas, education, medicine and agriculture ». That is Steiner-Waldorf education, Biodynamic agriculture and anthroposophical medicine.  (The Challenge of Rudolf Steiner by Jonathan Stedall   rudolfsteinerfilm.squarespace.com).           

I love the way this film is thought out, written, narrated and presented, and it includes beautiful footage from many countries, so I am going to use some of the words from it to give a brief introduction to Steiner Waldorf education, with a few words and photos of my own.

Preparation for life in its fullest sense, head heart and hands…

Head heart hands and tummy, making  bread

Grape harvest leaves its mark

What ploughing really means

Study of life alive and growing

Three distinct phases of childhood, with three distinct approaches...

Steiner offered insight into what you teach and when, in recognition of distinct six/seven year phases in child development.  The curriculum is designed to introduce subjects when they resonate and correspond to where the child is at in his/her development.

Where milk really comes from...

The first seven years

…concentrate on play, imitation and rhythm, stories are told heart and soul rather than read.

Dexterity of the body will translate into dexterity in how they think and create.

Learning all about sand: pouring, moulding - gravity, volume, you can touch it!

Counter the erosion of childhood

Much of what children do in a Steiner Waldorf school is to counteract what is increasingly recognised in the world as the erosion of childhood, a concern which extends far beyond the Steiner Waldorf movement.

Growing up…and growing down !

« Steiner picture of  child development is not only children growing up and thereby learning the ways of the world, but of ‘growing down’, bringing into life their own unique biography – this needs time, it takes time to build a firm and strong foundation so that each child can not only then face thte world as it is, but also then develop the strength of character to change it, maybe ! 

Study and Do

We can be told about something, we can think something, but studies show children learn better and more profoundly when they put their learning into practice -  with their whole being :  try it out, make, create, play, experiment, dig, cut, nail and hammer, music and drama…

Class teacher

Children have the same class teacher for 8 years, ideally creating a bond between teacher and pupils which goes way byond the actual knowledge imparted. 

Celebrate childhood…

What attracts parents to Steiner Waldorf  Schools ? Jonathan Stedall asks an experienced teacher :  "parents sense that what’s there is wholesome and good for the children, and they are looking for childhood, with all the light and joy that childhood brings, quite often they are seeing, in many schools children in a way trying to be moulded into something that isn’t child friendly ;  they see that in the SW school we celebrate childhood, we try to bring things which really nurture and nourish and feed the children, where they are actually at."  

Results ?

Another experienced teacher says, « I have to live with no results ! Children and young adults are continually growing.  To see a young person only as the result of the summation of his/her exam results is a slight on the individual…as adults we know we are still developing.  As teachers, whatt we do is allow them to go on to the next phase of study, it’s nothing to do with a « result ».

Nourished !

After 20 years of teaching a teacher says he sees that at the end of schooling that his students « really are free afterwards, they are not coming out having to believe in any particular belief system, but they have been nourished as human beings… »  IT MAKES ME HUNGRY JUST THINKING ABOUT IT!

Inspiration
Educators and educational directors, and most particularly those in France, could take inspiration from this film.  I know Steiner Waldorf schools aren't always perfect, and sometimes the original truths and principles have become twisted into dogma, but I feel convinced that these sorts of principles are the right starting point, and it's so much easier to go on when you have started in the right place.

Here's another inspired educational reformer, fully alive to his humanity and funny too, dear, dear Sir Ken, BRING ON THE LEARNING REVOLUTION!
www.ted.com/.../sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_rev...

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html