Ngā ritenga | Practices

Ngā ritenga
Essential Practices

In a nutshell when teaching in a Steiner school the practices expected include:

Holistic Education Focus: Steiner schools prioritize the development of the whole child—intellectual, emotional, and physical—rather than focusing solely on academic achievement.
Developmental Approach: Teaching is aligned with the child’s developmental stages, emphasizing age-appropriate learning experiences that nurture creativity, imagination, and moral growth.
Artistic and Creative Integration: The curriculum is deeply integrated with the arts, music, and movement, which are seen as essential to developing a balanced individual.
Rhythmic Structure: There is a strong emphasis on rhythm in daily, weekly, and seasonal activities, helping to create a sense of security and connection with nature.
Spiritual Perspective: Education in Steiner schools is infused with a spiritual view of the human being, though it is non-denominational and does not promote a specific religion.
Rich Oral Literacy: Storytelling, recitation, and spoken word are central to the curriculum, fostering strong language skills, listening abilities, and imagination. Oral literacy is emphasized as a foundation for later reading and writing, creating a deep and meaningful connection with language.
Child-Centered Learning: The learning environment is designed to respect the individuality of each child, allowing for self-directed discovery and exploration.
Integration with Nature: Outdoor learning and connection with the natural world are central, reflecting the belief in the importance of environmental stewardship and grounding children in the rhythms of nature.

Although the curriculum provides a framework from which teachers can work, it is the relationship between the teacher and child that is paramount for meaningful learning. Fundamental to this is the understanding that teachers need to recognise the capacities that they have and those that they need to develop in order to work in a healthy way with the children.

As learners themselves, teachers are the greatest role models of lifelong learning and should maintain an active interest in the world. Students are great sensors of authenticity and it is essential that teachers are seen to walk their talk.

Rudolf Steiner consistently emphasised the importance of who the teacher is, not what they know. He gave many exercises that can be used by teachers to develop their mindfulness, perception and self knowledge. Teachers are encouraged to utilise these for their inner schooling.

In everything you do as a teacher, begin with and connect everything to the human being.

(Steiner, 1981, p. 95)

The approach to pedagogy is seen as inseparable from the process of curriculum formation. Everything begins with the human being. Relevance is an essential driver of student engagement and interest. By connecting curriculum content to the human being children feel that what they are learning has something to do with them.

Steiner Waldorf education has the healthy development of the individual child as its central impulse and fundamental to this is the cultivation of human values. The curriculum supports and enhances the healthiest possible development. The curriculum gives equal importance to nurturing the physical, emotional and intellectual aspects of the child, requiring different learning experiences to be brought to students at specific ages and times and in certain ways.

Steiner Waldorf education aims to support the development of the whole child and this principle guides teaching and learning in every class. The study and observation of children is at the heart of teacher development and is, therefore, at the heart of curriculum development and delivery.

Special Character is not confined to any single aspect of a school’s activity. It is expressed in educational aims, curriculum content and delivery, teaching methods and organisational structures, as well as in the social and physical environment of the school.

It is essentially an integrated approach with all aspects interconnected in a mutually supportive way.

The education is open to all faiths or none, free of dogma or sectarianism and includes the celebration of Christian, seasonal and relevant cultural festivals.

The curriculum encompasses a broad range of subjects which contribute to a complete and balanced education. As far as practicable, within the full twelve-year, educational journey every area of human activity and endeavour will be entered into. Content and delivery in each subject meets the developmental stages of the children and is informed by the different soul needs (times of optimal readiness) of children as they mature.

High value is placed on teaching and learning through the arts and movement, not only as stand-alone subjects but also as an integral part of all learning experiences. These activities activate the will and feeling life of the child and support the development of flexible and creative thinking. As far as possible, all subjects are brought in an artistic way or through practical experience where doing precedes

understanding. Wherever possible, practical activity paves the way for discovery and enquiry which, in turn, leads to the formation of concepts.

It was … out of a profound instinct that Truth, Beauty and Goodness were held to be the greatest

ideals of human striving. Yet they have faded away into shadowy words, and it is only our present

age that can bestow concrete reality upon them

(Steiner, 1986, p. 3)

The question of human values and how these are nurtured is at the heart of the Steiner Waldorf curriculum. They can be expressed as virtues or as moral qualities and are critical to the development of character. Values give us our moral compass. It is through values that we experience spiritual wellbeing and find our place to stand with certainty in the world.

At the highest level values are a representation of what it means to be human. Values can also be expressed in the social, cultural and aesthetic realms. Values permeate every aspect of the way human beings meet and interact and it is incumbent on the teacher to model appropriate values and imbue their teaching and development of classroom culture with an understanding of values.

In Steiner Waldorf schools we work actively with the Platonic foundations of humanity as a central guiding motif for each of the seven-year phases. They are not exclusive to these periods in the life of the developing child but find their deepest resonance within these phases.

The young child up until the age of seven needs to experience that the world is essentially good. The adults that surround them need to affirm this experience through living in gratitude and with reverence and devotion to their tasks.

For the child between the ages of seven and fourteen the teacher will cultivate a disposition of openness and wonder to the beauty of the world and a sense of reverence which allows the inherent beauty and goodness of things to be recognised. Fundamentally this is about seeing beyond the material value of things to the spirit that stands behind them.

For the adolescent on the journey from fourteen to twenty-one, the quest for truth, the discernment of truth and the

integrity to stand for truth is of paramount importance. This also requires courage and conscience.

These values should be evident in the school’s philosophy, structures, curriculum, classrooms and relationships. Teachers work actively to model and instil a disposition of wonder, reverence and gratitude that will accompany all teaching and learning.

The reverence of the young child for the natural world and for the spirit in nature manifests as responsibility for the environment in the adolescent.

Reverence for the human spirit transforms into conscience and compassion for humanity.

From wonder springs a disposition of openness and interest, healthy enquiry and lifelong learning.

Gratitude leads to the will to be of service to the world.

These values are embedded in and stand alongside all those articulated in the New Zealand National

Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007, pp. 8-9).

Each school community will develop these further and find expression for them in their local charters and curriculum documents.

Ngā ritenga Essential Practices

Ngā ritenga
Essential Practices