SWSF Newsletter Current Edition Extract

What is Associative Leadership?

Rudolf Steiner left no template for the organisation of Waldorf schools. Like the curriculum, his indications on the governance and management of the schools were just that: suggestions for development. Much was left to the initiative and endeavour of the evolving group of teachers. Since then the social and political space we all have to occupy has become, like the planet itself, complicatedly crowded and self-polluting. Legislation, regulation and expectation pour into the social environment, often contradictory and often with unsustainable results.

Associative Leadership builds on best practice in Steiner Waldorf collegial management and governance. It provides those who take part in the workshops with thinking tools and increased awareness of what colleagues need to consider in school organisation. It recognises there is no one model, but aims to enable the greatest clarity as to where responsibilities rest and how appropriate accountability can be built into the structure. The workshops address each level of the school organisation from constitution and ethos to planning meetings and making sustainable decisions.