The School
The Dunedin Rudolf Steiner School offers a full Steiner curriculum from playgroup, through kindergarten and the primary school, including Intermediate.
The following principles embody what is held to be important in a Steiner Waldorf school curriculum:
The following principles embody what is held to be important in a Steiner Waldorf school curriculum:
- Education of the whole child
- An education for head, heart and hands
- Curriculum and pedagogy based on child development
- The unhurried curriculum: readiness for learning
Education of the Whole Child
Steiner Waldorf education is an integrated and holistic education. It strives to provide for the rounded and harmonious development of the whole human being, balancing the development of cognitive faculties with the cultivation of social, artistic and imaginative capacities and engagement in practical skills and experiences. The curriculum gives equal attention to supporting the healthy development of the physical, social, emotional, intellectual, moral, cultural and spiritual needs of each child.
Educating Head, Heart and Hands
Three overarching seven-year phases in the development of the child are recognised (Steiner, 1998). During each phase one of three soul faculties predominates and matures, shaping the way in which the world is met and experienced. These three soul faculties—thinking, feeling and willing—are all present in different stages of maturation at every point of a child’s development. Each lesson recognises the importance of engagement through head, heart and hands and the right balance will be found for each age group. The forming of the weekly timetable, main lessons and subject lessons take cognisance of this pedagogical approach.
Curriculum and Pedagogy Based on Child Development
Steiner Waldorf education is based upon the understanding that the human being is a spiritual being on a purposeful life journey and that during this journey distinctive, progressive phases of development unfold. Child development is seen as a process of gradual incarnation and individualisation. While the child “grows up” in its physical body, it also “grows down” from the spiritual world and creates in this meeting ground its own world of soul (Masters, 2007, p. 185).
Approximately every seven years a new soul ‘faculty’ emerges and matures during the following period. A healthy education will make best use of the opportunities for development that the different phases present. The structure of the school, the content of the curriculum, the teaching methods and the relationship between pupil and teacher all reflect these distinct phases. In acknowledging the prime time of readiness for crossing new thresholds, the whole curriculum provides opportunities for learning experiences that can have the quality of traditional rites of passage.
This understanding gives rise to a pedagogy that brings content and skills not only at optimal developmental times but also in an age-appropriate manner that is accessible and nurturing for the child. For example, the dreamy at- oneness with the world in which the seven-year-old lives is met by the curriculum through the pictorial realm of the fairy tale, while the individualising and wakefulness of thinking experienced by the emerging adolescent is reflected in the teaching of modern history.
In the kindergarten phase, the main focus is on the facilitation of and immersion in, creative will activity. During the primary school years the education engages the child more through their feelings and imagination. The focus in a Steiner high school is towards developing the student’s thinking capacity.
Approximately every seven years a new soul ‘faculty’ emerges and matures during the following period. A healthy education will make best use of the opportunities for development that the different phases present. The structure of the school, the content of the curriculum, the teaching methods and the relationship between pupil and teacher all reflect these distinct phases. In acknowledging the prime time of readiness for crossing new thresholds, the whole curriculum provides opportunities for learning experiences that can have the quality of traditional rites of passage.
This understanding gives rise to a pedagogy that brings content and skills not only at optimal developmental times but also in an age-appropriate manner that is accessible and nurturing for the child. For example, the dreamy at- oneness with the world in which the seven-year-old lives is met by the curriculum through the pictorial realm of the fairy tale, while the individualising and wakefulness of thinking experienced by the emerging adolescent is reflected in the teaching of modern history.
In the kindergarten phase, the main focus is on the facilitation of and immersion in, creative will activity. During the primary school years the education engages the child more through their feelings and imagination. The focus in a Steiner high school is towards developing the student’s thinking capacity.
The Unhurried Curriculum: Readiness for Learning
In Steiner Waldorf education readiness to learn is a guiding principle. Up until the developmental threshold of the child’s seventh year, their education takes place in the kindergarten, where learning occurs through play and imitation. Although it is recognised that children can be taught to do many things before this time of physical and soul readiness, this is seen to come at a cost that will become apparent in later years (House, 2012; Suggate, 2010, 2014). The principle of readiness stands true right through the primary and high school years.
Steiner Waldorf education respects the integrity of childhood and what is seen to belong rightfully to childhood. As a child progresses through school, emphasis is given to his or her individual development in an environment which is non-competitive and unpressurised in the academic sense. Teachers actively protect and cultivate the young child’s capacity to wonder, to imagine and to experience awe and reverence for life and learning in a manner that is unhurried. Children learn at their own pace, guided and encouraged by the teacher, who is alert to the particular intelligences that emerge as well as any obstacles to learning that need to be overcome. Allowing children to experience a full and healthy childhood is seen as vital for laying the foundations for a healthy adolescence and well- balanced adulthood.
Steiner Waldorf education respects the integrity of childhood and what is seen to belong rightfully to childhood. As a child progresses through school, emphasis is given to his or her individual development in an environment which is non-competitive and unpressurised in the academic sense. Teachers actively protect and cultivate the young child’s capacity to wonder, to imagine and to experience awe and reverence for life and learning in a manner that is unhurried. Children learn at their own pace, guided and encouraged by the teacher, who is alert to the particular intelligences that emerge as well as any obstacles to learning that need to be overcome. Allowing children to experience a full and healthy childhood is seen as vital for laying the foundations for a healthy adolescence and well- balanced adulthood.