HOLISTIC SCHOOL? QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
by parent Sinead Duignan and teachers Jessica Reid and Sharon Hannon
This article was previously printed in Network July 2009
As I walk into a Steiner Waldorf kindergarten there is a sense of peace and simplicity, a clarity- gentle yet definite. The environment is consciously created using gentle colours, natural toys, such as a basket of smooth stones or pine cones,there is nothing gaudy and everything seems to be in it’s rightful place.
Can you tell me more about this environment and it’s importance, how children respond within this environment, with their peers and teachers? S.D.
The kindergarten or “child’s garden” gives the children a space of their own, away from the pressures, and clutter of modern life. In this peaceful atmosphere they are free to journey back ‘to the dawn of time’ so to speak.
It is a place of beauty and simplicity, calm and timelessness. Here they can create their own world in complete security where they carry out their ‘work’ i.e. free play.
Nothing is provided ‘ready made’, their toys are ‘unfinished’, for example the dolls have only a suggestion of a face, leaving room for the child’s imagination to complete the picture. All toys and playthings are handmade from 100% natural, safe and environmentally sustainable materials.
The social aspect is very important, the teacher provides a positive role model- one worthy of imitation. Each day begins with the group holding hands in a circle reciting the verse “with gentle hands, sharing words and kind ways” then the teacher steps back and allows the children time to play/work out their relationships with one another, guiding them when necessary through whatever conflicts may arise,always bringing them back to the verse “gentle hands...”.
The children, teacher and assistant sit down together around the table for their two communal meals a day. We bless our meal, thanking earth and sun for the abundant gifts of food before us. J.R.
Repetition- daily, weekly, monthly and annually form a large part of Waldorf education.
Can you elaborate on the meaning of repetition for the young child and the importance of celebrating festivals? S.D.
Rhythm and repetition provide a strong and stable framework like the bricks used to build a house, this gives children a sense of security, they know what is going to happen next, for example playtime follows singing time, painting time follows playtime etc.
Spring follows winter, summer follows spring, children feel their place in the cyclical nature of the world.
As the children hear the same story over and over, different aspects become clearer. They have the time to process it, it becomes part of them.
In relation to celebrating festivals, this brings everybody together as a community to celebrate the turning of the seasons. We take time to appreciate, enjoy, give thanks and contemplate meaning in our lives.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are food for the body in the rhythm of the day, Imbolc, Bealtaine, Midsummer’s Night etc are food for the soul in the rhythm of the year.
The traditional festivals connect us to nature, our history, yet ground us in the present, they punctuate our lives giving us renewed hope for the future, which otherwise might run on and on into a meaningless jumble of days, weeks, months and years. J.R
There is much change occurring in the hearts and minds of people today, accelerated now due to the effects of “a global recession”. How can Waldorf education contribute to this movement toward greater self reliance, community responsibility, and local governance?S.D.
Although almost 100 years old, Steiner’s ideas on education are just as relevant today as when the first Waldorf school was started, if not more so.
Children are brought up away from consumerism and towards self reliance. A Waldorf education is all about environmental sustainability. We learn our place and connection to nature, how to use our head, heart and hands in order to live accordingly.
The schools are run as microcosmic democracies, also going one step further- consensus decision making is reached through a nonhierarchical approach. This involves lots of regular meetings on the part of parents and teachers alike. True democracy requires participation and lots of it. One vote every now and then is not enough,we need to spend a lot of time and energy to make the world a better place. This is an integral part of being involved in the world wide Steiner movement.
Waldorf pupils leave school with a sense of ethical responsibility toward themselves, others, and the world. They are confident in making decisions based on their own judgement not on what they are told,or what everybody else does. J.R.
The Waldorf curriculum includes for kindergarten (4 - 6 yrs.) the Grimes Fairy Tales, for primary school (7 -14 yrs.) world mythology, including the old testament and Eastern philosophy why are these teachings considered important for the developing child? S.D.
All the experience, knowledge and wisdom of countless generations of humanity are contained in the great myths, folk tales and stories of the world. The child takes in the morals, ethics and values contained in the stories and relates them to his or her own experience. Instead of telling a child “do not steal”,tell a story in which is contained a lesson about stealing, this is more gentle and with no blame attached, it penetrates much more deeply into the child’s consciousness. Stories are chosen carefully from the great literature of the world and are taught in a specific order. Stories are always told not read, therefore continuing the oral tradition.
The stories are unfolded to the children according to the evolution of human history as it relates to the child’s development. The older myths when the child is younger slowly moving forward in time as the child grows up. The kindergarten is “the dawn of time” a dreamy fairytale. The primary school, a big adventure, full of knights and quests, gods and goddesses!, secondary school takes us from Shakespeare to modern literature. J.R.
I’m directing this question to the lead kindergarten teacher as someone from a ‘non Steiner ‘ background who found herself in the position of Steiner Waldorf teacher. From your experience can you tell us your thoughts on this form of education? S.D.
Having worked in various childcare settings for many years, I found the whole Steiner approach very refreshing. The atmosphere/mood of the kindergarten is very calming and the children are very relaxed in comparison to other settings.
One of the things that struck me about the Steiner Kindergarten was how much it resembled my own ‘old fashioned’ upbringing, as I was raised with my grandparents. Family was the core of most daily activities. We ate together, we greeted each other cheerily with basic ‘please and thank yous'’, we cared for the household. There was home-cooked food for which the table was always set. Occasions were made to feel special. Care and respect for our belongings was encouraged which included respect and love of the countryside and the world around us. Traditional music,song and stories were part of my childhood and I take delight in passing on some of these songs and poems, which I have never forgotten, to the children in the hope that they too will remember with affection their early years and a home from home, that is the Steiner Kindergarten.S.H.
There are many aspects of Waldorf education which I find heart warming and real in this increasingly sterile and “whose liable” dictated world. For instance each child being greeted individually by their teacher each morning. The fact that the college of teachers will consider the development of each child attending the school, not just those who come to their attention due to good or bad behavior!
A teacher will deeply consider each child taking into account their temperament, interests weaknesses and strenghts setting appropriate tasks for that individual, all the while being guided by their daily meditations on their class group.
As a past Waldorf pupil, tell us - what was it like to have this form of education, how do you feel it has benefited or hindered you? S.D.
My Waldorf education was all benefits and certainly did not hinder me in any way from following my own path in life! Hardly a day goes by that I do not thank my lucky stars for the great gift I was given.
School was enjoyable,colourful, fun. I liked school, our class was like a family, we loved our class-teacher.
I remember my school days at Michael Mount as a wonderful experience; playing the recorder, reciting poetry, singing, school assemblies, stories, painting, drawing, our main lesson books, celebrating the festivals, building a hut in class 3, growing grain and vegetables, handwork, woodwork, baking bread, sport, eurythmy, botany, etc.
Every lesson was presented in a holistic way, when we were learning about fractions our teacher baked a cake, we cut it in half, quarters, eighths etc and then we ate it! Learning to write, we first used coloured bees wax crayons, then coloured pencils, then lead pencils, then we collected feathers at a duck pond and made quill pens for dipping in ink,finally came that special day when we were presented with our first fountain pens!
Whatever we were learning about our teacher would draw a beautiful picture on the board, using coloured chalks to illustrate the lesson, bring it alive and make it beautiful.
Kindergarten was a magical dream, primary school a great gift, high school challenging and interesting.
The atmosphere in our school was very much that of a community, parents and teachers working together to bring about something they firmly believed in and wanted for their children. Everybody worked hard to make it happen.We got no governmental funding, so the school was constantly struggling to keep afloat. After 20 years it was firmly established, after 45 years it is probably one of the best schools in the world!
I could go on for ever, these are just some of the impressions, a Waldorf education made me aware of the earth, how precious it is, how we need to protect all living things and the earth itself, as one of our verses went; “we are the world and the world is us”. My education gave me the ability to create my own way of living based on what I think and feel is right, no matter how unfashionable or unpopular that may be. I was taught the practical life-skills to carry my ideas into reality, to be self reliant, to have the confidence to figure out what to do, and do it. J.R.
A Steiner Waldorf school often comes into being when a number of parents gather to socialize and educate their children with a Steiner or holistic ethos as the common denominator. As need and numbers grow the kindergarten is conceived. Then much growth occurs! Dedicated parents are busy fundraising, organising a premise, teachers, equipment etc etc.
What are the benefits of this parent community focused route with all its ‘joys and challenges!’? S.D.
Even at the best of times the school environment only accounts for around 30% of a child’s education in life, the home accounts for 70%.It is absolutely necessary that parents are concerned and involved in their child’s education and work together with teachers to carry through at home what the child is experiencing at school and visa versa.
In a community the parents feel inspired, supported and confident in taking responsibility for and playing an active role in their child's education,it also means that they are willing to invest time and resources. J.R.
I recently watched a film called “When The Earth Stood Still” It states that though humans know there is a problem(with how we live in our world) and how to solve that problem, humans simply lack the will to really do anything about it.
Does the manner in which information is imparted to the child play an important factor regarding their will? S.D.
Yes, yes and yes again!. The whole Waldorf curriculum is designed to nurture and strengthen the will,(kindergarten) the emotions,(primary school), and the intellect, (secondary school). Everything that the child is taught is also put into practice, for example, we read a play, discuss it, write about it, make the costumes, design the sets and lighting, learn our lines and perform it for an audience.
A well rounded human being is able to think things through, come up with ideas and do research, they give themselves time to digest this knowledge, try to discover “How does this make me feel?” What are the possible consequences of any action I take? Is this ethical or moral? Then the person has the courage to act as they see fit. The key word here is courage. Fear or lack of confidence is what paralyzes us and stops us from doing what we know is right.
A Waldorf education strives to enable the child to develop the courage they need in order to act. It gives them the practical “will skills” that they need to put into action what they think and feel is of great importance to themselves and to the world. J.R.
As a social care worker turned holistic health practitioner I was initially drawn to the Steiner approach due its understanding of energy regarding the development of the physical body. For example, it is said that between birth and 7 years the child’s immature internal organs are developing, if we as parents and teachers bring the child’s attention into the logical mind too early we draw energy which is focused in the torso upward into the head area, therfore causing lack/weakness in the developing internal organs.
I ponder if our current mainstream educational system and the general need to see children perform logical feats is a significant factor, when we consider the number of illnesses, ailments and disease which plague the human body, which in turn may lead to dependency on allopathic medicine and health establishments..?Just a thought!! S.D.
What you say here is absolutely true. Before the age of 7 a child needs all their energy to develop a healthy, happy, physical body, if we encourage them to do mental work, all their energy will be thus directed to the brain at the expense of the developing organs.
We must study child development very closely and make sure that all activities a child is involved in are age appropriate. A large cause of this early intellectual learning is because parents are worried that if their children do not get an “early start”, they will get “left behind”. This has been proven by scientific research as well as by insights from enlightened parents and great educationalists to be absolutely not the case, infact pushing a child into intellectual learning too early can cause many problems later on.
Until 7yrs, the most appropriate work for a child to do is to play. This is their right and true occupation and includes arts and crafts, music and singing, stories and poems, cooking and baking, sewing and weaving, gardening etc. By being given extra years to play, a child is able to work out his/her social relationships so that when they start school proper they will be really ready for it.
J.R.
Morning Star Kindergarten, Ballymote, Co.Sligo welcomes parents and children to the toddler group, kindergarten and to the primary school (class 1 & 2) which is envisioned to open in 2012. Tel; 071 91 21950. Email; HYPERLINK "mailto:info@morningstarkindergarten.com" info@morningstarkindergarten.com,
Website; morningstarkindergarten.com
This article was previously printed in Network July 2009
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