Waldorf Education: Origins and Philosophy

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Transcript Jen:   [00:30] Hello and welcome to today’s episode of the Your Parenting Mojo podcast, which is called Is a Waldorf Preschool Right for my Child? Regular listeners might recall that we are doing a little mini series at the moment, examining the different approaches to preschool to try and help parents make a decision about which type of school might be right for their child. We’ve already covered Montessori, so if you miss that one, you might take it once to go back and take a listen. And today we’ll talk with Beverly Amico, who is the Executive Director of Advancement at the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America. Prior to this role, she was the head of school for three K through 12 Waldorf schools in Bethesda, Maryland; Boulder, Colorado, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was a life sciences teacher as well. She also sits on the board of the Council for American private education, which advocates for sound educational policy. Beverly received her bachelor’s degree in K through 12 health education from Penn State University. Welcome, Beverly. Beverly: [01:22] Thank you. It’s a privilege to be here. Jen:  [01:24] Thank you. So I’ve read that it’s really difficult to define the distinguishing features of a Waldorf education. Every book that I picked up said, well, we can’t really put our arms around what it is. I wonder if you could start out instead by imagining a Waldorf preschool classroom in your mind and walking us through that. What does the room look like and what are the children doing and how do they move through their day? Beverly:  [01:46] Certainly, certainly. There were I think four words that often come to mind when you’re describing a Waldorf early childhood classroom and which will hopefully help your visitor, your listeners to be able to picture it. But first is simplicity. You’ll walk into a classroom and the surrounding environment has very few distractions. Children really don’t need much noise around them to explore and to hold their attention. Beverly:   [02:16] The second I’d like to use is the word goodness. Even the way the gestures of the teacher, the kind words, the soft speech, the calming rhythm, and children feel like they’re coming into a place and they feel nurtured. And then beauty, and you don’t necessarily expect this when you walk into an early childhood classroom, but the classrooms are really beautiful. There ae flowers and wooden toys and beautiful artwork on the walls and real elements of nature and that that just is, is good and healthy for all human beings to be surrounded by beauty. And then the last one, which is perhaps kind of the keystone of a welder for early childhood is this idea of wonder. It’s a place students can enter into and explorer and spark their imagination. I think even as an adult, if you’ve ever walked into an early childhood classroom, you immediately feel kind of nurtured and calm and cared for, for it’s really a very joyful place. Jen:    [03:16] That sounds really cool. So what are the children spend their day doing in a Waldorf Preschool? Beverly:  [03:22] Absolutely. Well, so every Waldorf school is different. They’re all independent. While we’re an association, each is different. So we do have some Waldorf early childhood classrooms that are even forest kindergartens or outdoor farm kindergartens. But traditionally our classes…There’s plenty of time for children to explore in what we’ll call child-initiated free play, exploring in nature, plenty of outdoor time, regardless of whether our location. My child was at a school in Minnesota and, and every day in that cold, in that snow, they were out to there exploring. Circle time, which is full of stories and songs and movement and a rich storytelling curriculum and puppet shows. And then there’s always some type of a project that the children are taking up for the day, whether it’s baking bread or watercolor painting or carving wood. And then the simple aspects of just being helpful in the classroom, whether it’s setting tables, folding napkins, making soup. So hopefully that gives you a little little picture of the day. Jen:   [04:33] Yeah, it almost sounds like it’s a bit like a home environment in a classroom, Beverly:  [04:38] That’s a very good way to, to define it. And the teachers are really, they’re kind of as a parent, as you would say, to be imitated and to look up to whether they’re cooking or folding or setting up the next group play environment there; it is really like a home. Jen:   [05:02] Okay. And so as parents are looking at Waldorf schools and the teachers, I wonder if you can help us understand the certification for teachers and the accreditation for schools. I think your organization is the only one that accredits schools. Is that right? Beverly:    [05:17] Yes. I can certainly speak to those questions. So Waldorf teachers, their path is typically after completing an undergraduate degree or a master’s degree, they’ll then come to one of our several institutes to complete either a master’s degree or a certain certificate program in Waldorf teacher training programs vary according to the institute, it’s typically a two year program, Jen: [05:44] So there’s a master’s degree in Waldorf education? Beverly:   [05:47] You can get a master’s degree in Waldorf Education and then some of our institutes just offer a certificate program. So it depends which, which institute that you go to. Jen:  [05:57] Okay. And is it fairly common for Waldorf schools to have teachers who have been through that master’s program or is it that one of the teachers in the school might have it or maybe none. How common is it? Beverly:  [06:07] Yeah, I would say it’s probably a quarter that had the master’s degree and the remaining that have in Undergrad or a master’s degree in something else then have gone through the certificate program. Jen:  [06:24] Okay. And so do you ever see schools that aren’t accredited by an organization that call themselves world or. And if so, what should parents look for to really judge the quality of a real Waldorf school? Beverly: [06:38] Sure. Well, I can speak to that. And first of all, I’ll say that there are public charter schools that are inspired by Waldorf Education, um, so, you know, those are, are plentiful and we’re pleased that that they’re out there and thriving. And in terms of public education, the schools that are inspired by Waldorf schools, they would be part of a group called the Association for Public Waldorf Education. So that’s just a mark for a parent that is going perhaps in that direction. The Waldorf schools in the United States are all members of our association. And to confirm that, it’s usually as simple as looking on the homepage of their website and noting our logo somewhere on that page just saying that, that they’re members of the association, but it’s also a question that could easily be asked. And all of our members go through a multi year kind of rigorous path to membership where they receive mentoring that’s offered by schools in their regional circle. They receive regular visits and evaluations. And then the final stage of that process is accreditation. And this really the path is meant not only to help ensure quality and consistency, but to really ensure that a school is staying true to the principles of Waldorf education. Jen:     [08:05] Okay. Alright, so let’s dig into that then since you sent me. So who was Rudolf Steiner and, and how did he develop this approach to education and why is it called Waldorf? Beverly:  [08:16] Okay. Well, the reason it was called Waldorf is this… Well, first let’s go to the Rudolph. Rudolph Steiner was an Austrian philosopher and scientist and he was at the time working to find solutions and I would also say healing for a broken a post World War One society. And so in 1919 Emil Malt, who was the owner of the Waldorf cigarette factory in Germany, approached Rudolph Steiner to start a school. So that’s where the name Walder comes from. And then this school at that time was quite radical and it was the boys and girls should be educated together that the school would be open to children regardless of economic standing and that the teachers who were closest to the children and their needs would be those that would be responsible for all things pedagogical. So that wouldn’t be the government and it wouldn’t be government intervention. And really the goal and the development of the program at a very small goal was to change and revitalize society through education. Beverly:   [09:31] So that’s what we’re working to do. So we are now approaching almost 100 years of Waldorf education in the world, but that’s a little bit of its history and who Rudolph Steiner was. Jen:  [09:44] OK. How did he come up with this approach then the principles that, that the, the educational system sits on there. How did he decide that society needed changing and how he was going to do it and, and how that was a valid way of doing it. Beverly:  [09:58] Well, so society at clearly at that point needed changing, um, you know, this was post World War one in Germany and it was a very broken society and trying to figure out how to rebuild. He was actually very involved, more on the, what is the right kind of economic path and how do we work politically in our country. So that he was really focused on that aspect and that’s how he came together with Emil Malt originally. Beverly:  [10:33] But what he developed at the time, and I won’t go into too much detail on it because it wouldn’t be so relevant to your audience, but he was really working on something in the cultural sphere called the threefold social order. Where the hope was that communities would really come together and businesses would come together in supporting schools and community. And the foundation of his philosophy is something called anthroposophy. And anthroposophy in in brief, is the belief that all humans are both physical and spiritual beings, and that each person in themselves has the wisdom to really transform humanity in the world which was so needed at that time through their own inner development. So practically in the classroom, um, teachers work to cultivate a sense of wonder, to inspire children to view the world even in its most basic form as magnificent. I’m really aiming to prompt each student to embrace life with enthusiasm, initiative purpose, but most importantly a strong moral compass. So anyway, long answer to a very long question. Complicated question actually. Jen:   [12:01] Totally understand. So, okay. So anthroposophy sounds as though…in the sense of wonder. I can totally understand the validity of that and why it’s important to cultivate that in, in children. And I could imagine that people who have a religious background would be really interested in that too. What would you say to someone who doesn’t come from a religious background? Is, is there any link between anthroposophy and organized religion? Beverly:  [12:26] No, there is certainly a religious strain called the Christian community that comes from anthroposophy, but that is not anthroposophy in general. It’s actually not a religion at all. It’s a philosophy that people, regardless of religion, really come around and it’s certainly not anything that’s taught in our classrooms. Jen:   [12:48] Okay. So there’s no kind of religious component to Waldorf education? Beverly:   [12:51] No. The religious component to Waldorf education is really historical perspectives of many religions. So it’s really kind of this a celebration of the world’s humanity and many, many religions versus anything specific. Jen:   [13:09] Okay. And so while we’re on the topic of words that I don’t fully understand, what’s eurythmy? Beverly:   [13:16] Oh, eurythmy! So I’ll try to make that one a little bit more simple. So eurythmy is Greek comes from a Greek word, meaning beautiful or harmonious rhythm. So hopefully that can help you picture it a little bit. It’s an art form, a form of dance, and Rudolf Steiner defined it as visible speech or speech in movement or visible music, it could be called. And we offer eurythmy… It’s very unique to Waldorf schools, this form of movement really benefits students on many levels, whether it’s balanced sense of space, grace, coordination, expression, speech, working in