It is the culprit. Our children cannot attend, listen, process information, retain, or perform well when in an either under- or over-aroused state. Overwhelm is what causes these states. When before the brain is ready children are exposed to and required to participate in academics, media, technology, and organized play, such as team sports, the premature and often prolonged stress they experience can eventually shut the system down.
Whereas the mainstream educational system today focuses almost exclusively on academics, a mostly left brain function, Waldorf educators focus more on the whole brain, emphasizing the right hemisphere at each stage of development. Steiner could only have observed and therefore hypothesized that this keeps our children in the optimum zone of arousal where all of learning and adaptive behavior are possible.
With current scientific findings, we now know he was right. A given within education is the engagement of the left brain.
Learning almost always involves a verbal, analytical process. What is not a given, is the stimulation and expression of the right brain. Our bodies are supported to move less, our minds to race more. Cuts have been made not only to recess and physical education, but also to creative endeavors such as theater, music, and fine art, all of which make important contributions to the optimal functioning of the brain, achievement, AND success no matter how you define it.
A whole lot, according to the neuroscience: nothing stimulates and resonates with the right brain more powerfully, and therefore, nothing keeps us in the optimum zone of arousal better than nature. Remember, the optimum zone of arousal, when anxiety is neither too high nor too low, is the only physiological state within which all of learning and adaptive behavior is possible.
Nature beautifully promotes that state. According to years of research recently compiled by Dr. Eeva Karjalainen, natural green settings reduce stress, improve mood, reduce anger and aggression, increase overall happiness, and even strengthen our immune system. Nature is one critical antidote to the increases in stress, overwhelm, burnout, and dropout we are witnessing in the educational system today. When we experience nature, our blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and level of stress hormones all decrease faster than when we are in urban settings.
One central idea within Waldorf Education is that emotional and personal development is a fundament for a healthy growth of the intellect. Therefore, class teaching passes through the psychological levels of will, emotion and thinking in order to lead the students from "hand to heart" and from "heart to mind".
The importance of crafts and arts arise from this orientation also. Waldorf students do not get their learning motivation from grades and other certifications based on achievements. By contrast, they are more interested in the subject and experience more meaningfulness in the teachings. According to their own statements, they also go through a positive development of their personality with respect to creativity, self esteem and tolerance among other aspects.
Furthermore, the phenomenological oriented approach in nature science has a positive impact on a deeper understanding - besides some deficiencies with respect to methodical and didactical techniques see Ullrich, On the other hand the artistic orientation of Waldorf education has the effect that there is an over-average number 5 5 Compared to the German Mikrozensus. Further on, student-teacher relationships are more cherished in Waldorf Schools, from students and teacher perspective as well, which is due to the absence of grades, the variety of social activities theatre projects, class trips and monthly presentations and, last not least, probably also to the teachers' professional ethos.
As consequence it is not surprising that Waldorf students show a higher identification with their Schools than students from other public Schools. Besides these positive findings a number of critical results have to be quoted, too. Subjects to which this applies include, above all, mathematics alongside foreign languages. With respect to the reasons for this, only hypothesis can be given: High expectations of parents are just as possible as the fact that students who are able to graduate by Abitur within the system of Waldorf Schools would not have the chance to achieve the same level of graduation in other public Schools.
The latter aspect can be underlined by the fact that private coaching is widespread among lateral entrants. Waldorf students experience a lack of performance requirement and complain about insufficient feedback for their personal efforts;. Classroom teaching is focused on the academically weak students, which leads to a mental understimulation among other students. Many Waldorf students criticize the lack of theoretic retrievable knowledge as well as the fact that they did not learn how to learn on their own;.
Waldorf students do miss references to actual social topics, especially with regard to politics and history;. On the other hand, sports, politics and natural sciences do have the importance and deepening as they should have from the students' viewpoint;. It is obvious that quality of classroom teaching is a topic. With respect to methodical training researchers note that especially the variety of different didactical approaches is missing in classroom teachings see Ullrich, Also according to Liebenwein, Barz and Randoll teacher-centered is still common in Waldorf Schools.
German Waldorf Schools have to balance two aims: the Waldorf curriculum and the graduation in form of the Abitur. In order to fulfill the second aim an adaption to the curriculum of other public Schools is necessary, because the guidelines are given by the government.
Not least because many Waldorf students or parents strive to attain the Abitur as a door opener to university, meaning that Waldorf Schools have to cope with this balance of two different curricula. Although predominantly high School teachers are faced with this problem, it can be easily seen that balancing the curricula requires a good communication between the teachers of high School, middle School and lower School.
In fact, this often does not work out in the pedagogical practice in Schools. The older teachers are closer connected to Anthroposophy and to tradition for example the principle of class teachers from 1 st to 8 th grade and a critical position with respect to an academic teacher training. Younger teacher are open to reforms and new ways, but they often fail in realizing their ideas against the tendency to tradition Randoll, During the first 8 grades in Waldorf Schools students start the day at School with their class teacher having so called main lessons approximately two hour in the morning with one subject over a period of three or four weeks.
The structure of main lessons is also common in high School teaching, except for the fact that beginning with grade 9 a specialist teacher will teach the block while the class teacher has to cover many different subjects. Besides they often teach another subject, which does not appear during the main lesson blocks as sports, arts and eurhythmy.
This implies that students will spend a lot of time with their class teachers Keller, Class teachers, therefore, are not only supposed to do a lot of preparation, but they also have to maintain a fostering relationship to each of their students. Unsurprisingly they discovered both opportunities and risks associated with this approach. Opportunities exist in the fact that students experience continuity and emotional security see also Idel, On the other hand, the close and intense relationship between the class teacher and his pupils can be crucial for students when the personal matching is not free of conflicts.
Actually a discussion has been initiated by the question of whether a period of 6 years might be more appropriate with respect to the fact that today's students bring along other leaning attitudes. Therefore some Schools have begun to integrate more high School teachers during the main lessons in 7 th and 8 th grade.
Nevertheless, the period of 8 years is still favored among teachers and students as well. In general teachers also support the traditional class teacher principle.
In the Waldorf teacher survey However, among students a range of experiences can be found: On the one hand three of four students confirm from a retrospective point of view that classroom teachings were interesting and they attest a good preparation with respect to their class teachers. On the other hand, only In this investigation the 8-year class teacher system also came in for more approval than disapproval from the Waldorf students.
The reasons that caused the class teacher experience to be seen in retrospect as positive were: a good teacher-pupil relationship, involving a high degree of mutual trust; a teacher who meets the students' wishes and needs in an open and flexible way. Looking more closely at the results, however, the opinions of the students go through many modifications. The main aspects were the following ones:. Since most Waldorf schools are single-streamed, the students are usually dependent on one central figure during the class teacher period;.
By class 8 at the very latest the class teacher's ability to attend to the students' learning needs and to attain the requisite standards of achievement is no longer adequate - at least from the students' point of view;. According to students, lessons - even in class 8 - all tend to be teacher-dominated too often, while opportunities for group work or forms of self-motivated study are fairly rare;. As a conclusion, it can be said that the class teacher system is an important and established aspect of Waldorf education.
It ensures stable teacher-pupil relationships and emotional security over a long period of time. Thank you. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. No menu assigned! Is In the Beginning — Waldorf Schools were a Radical Educational Model When Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner developed the first Waldorf School for the children of cigarette factory workers in , Europe was rebuilding after World War I and was ready to embrace a new type of educational model, one that was radically different for its day.
Is a Waldorf school a good fit for your family? Children are treated as individuals and the curriculum is tailored to their unique style of learning. Children learn the meaning of teamwork and community.
Waiting until the later grades to teach reading and math promotes long-term achievement. Finally, what does the Research Say? These included more activism, value changes, spirituality, future care and better education; Rudolf Steiner Schools Association of Australia In , the Rudolf Steiner Schools Association of Australia funded a research project to investigate the relationships between Steiner education and related 21st century academic education.
Comparative study of moral development An American study found that Waldorf-educated students scored significantly higher on a test of moral reasoning than students in public high schools and students in a religiously affiliated high school.
Waldorf schools survey A survey of U. Standardised testing: USA and Germany Waldorf students are less exposed to standardised testing; such tests are generally absent in the elementary school years.
Search the blog. Join the discussion 3 Comments. Robin says:. April 20, at pm. Spielgaben says:. April 21, at am. Leave a Reply Cancel Reply. This is the mother of all of our beliefs and educational philosophy. At a Waldorf school, education is not measured by competition and test scores, but is viewed as a life-long journey. While Waldorf Education places children at the heart of its pedagogy, Waldorf schools depend on the teacher as a fulcrum for the educational process.
The individual who chooses to teach in a Waldorf school brings his or her full self to the development of others, providing mentoring, development, and affection that sustain the students for life. In , Emil Molt, owner of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart, Germany, was looking to develop a school for the children of his employees. To develop this pedagogy, Molt turned to Rudolf Steiner. Steiner agreed to take on the task, under the conditions that the school be:.
The intended outcome would be young people who were independent thinkers and problem-solvers, capable of creatively meeting the challenges of their time. This inclusive and forward-thinking spirit of idealism, commitment, and engagement with the world continues to be a hallmark of Waldorf Education in our time.
Phone: Fax: [email protected]. What is Waldorf Education? The Foundations of Waldorf Education. Early Childhood — Develop the limbs through doing Young children from birth to age seven live primarily through their senses and learn best through imitation.
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