Newsletter October 2023

Dear friends and colleagues,

In this newsletter you will find two articles that we hope will generate stimulating conversations.
The first is «Education is always political», by Neil Boland from New Zealand, and the second «School without a director – Republican school self-government by teachers» by Steffen Zenker from Greifswald/Germany.
If you would like to contribute something on these topics, please feel free to send them to us.
An important notice for teachers in Waldorf education training centers: this journal contains details about the theme of the International Teacher Education Conference being held at the Goetheanum from 17 to 21 April 2024.
The program is still being finalised and will be published as soon as it is available.
And finally, a reminder of the lectures in English on Steiner's pedagogical course in Ilkley, which can be viewed via livestream on 12 October 2023.

With warm greetings from the Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum

Philipp Reubke

Education is always political

Waldorf education can be thought of as an ideal: an education that nurtures the individual to meet their potential, an education towards freedom, an education which meets the needs of the time.
However, education (Waldorf or otherwise) is always specific: it is enacted in a particular place, at a particular time, with and by particular people, in particular circumstances.
Furthermore, as Paulo Freire says, education can never be neutral, it is always political, in the sense that it promotes a certain view of the world over another.

Read here the article by Neil Boland.

School without a principal

On 10 August 1923 in Ilkley, Rudolf Steiner said «Waldorf education is strictly a practical matter, and the only way to describe it is by using examples of how it is practiced in one situation or another according to specific needs.»

What is said here for pedagogy in general also applies to school administration and leadership.
While Steiner has given general suggestions, much experience has been gained in the field over the last hundred years, and a lot has been written on the subject. However, what this looks like in practice is different in each of the more than 2000 Waldorf schools and kindergartens worldwide.

The article by Steffen Zenker gives an example of self-government in a school in North East Germany which celebrated its 30th birthday in September 2023.

Read the article here

Celebrations of a Humanistic Pedagogy

Our lecture series «Celebrations of Humanistic Pedagogy» is now entering its third series in English.
On 12 October 2023, the Pedagogical Section, together with the General Anthroposophical Section, will highlight Rudolf Steiner's summer course, which he held from 5 to 17 August 1923 in Ilkley, in the north of England (GA 307), via livestream.

During this «holiday course» Steiner does not initially speak at all about the methods and contents of the Waldorf School he co-founded in Stuttgart. He speaks first about the history of education in antiquity and the Middle Ages, about the question of how body, soul and spirit are connected and about specific anthropological questions.
Why are the methods and contents of the newly founded alternative education not defended here? This is what today's readers may ask themselves. In the sixth lecture, Steiner himself gives the answer: he does not want to develop «some theory about the need for a new form of education». Anyone looking for recipes for a successful reform pedagogy will come up empty here.
For Steiner is concerned with something else. He wants to arouse enthusiasm for the profession of educator and teacher: «I wanted to speak less to the intellect and more to the heart. This is most important for the teacher.» No sentimentality is meant here, but rather the possibility of developing anthropological and psychological observations and concepts that put human development in a new perspective.

In his contribution, Peter Selg will say something about the anthroposophical and historical context of this course. Constanza Kaliks and Philipp Reubke will present some central ideas and show their relevance for today.
The presentations should above all do one thing: make you want to discover Steiner's summer course again by reading it yourself.

Click here for the free livestream