Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship: Statement in Response to Reports from the Cambridge Review and the National Foundation for Educational Research (08-02-2008)
The Steiner Waldorf Schools Movement (UK) welcomes the reports that have been published by the Cambridge Primary Review and the NFER concerning the issues of school-starting age, pupil testing and school league tables.
Along with others, we consider the child’s first years of learning and educational experiences to be of crucial importance and value for the child, the child’s future health and development and the emerging society, which we share.
In Steiner schools across the world, the young child is enabled to develop sure foundations for learning. In our settings we provide an environment in which young children can immerse themselves in creative, experiential, social play. This play is not scripted or determined by narrow ‘academic’ learning outcomes. In this way, children develop skills and learning dispositions for life and for living: thoughtfulness, care, responsiveness, enthusiasm, a lasting interest in the world and one another. These human qualities and values elude attempts at quantification, yet are the life-blood of meaningful individual and community life. Our educational approach aims to develop a full range of competences through providing a blend of cognitive, practical and aesthetic experiences. This approach is founded on the principle of meeting children in their development, rather than pushing and prodding them towards artificially constructed targets and goals.
While tests and league tables are ephemeral and arguably insubstantial, aptitudes and attitudes are lasting and potent forces for social renewal and progress. ‘Earliness’, ‘competitive acceleration’ and relentless testing lead to pressurised learning and have questionable purposes except in their own terms. As concepts they are qualitatively different from ‘readiness’, ‘suitability’ and ‘authentic assessment’, or respecting the child and their learning.
The Steiner Waldorf Schools Movement supports the NUT’s call for a considered review of current arrangements for the testing of primary school pupils. Steiner educators are ready to contribute to such a review and to join the debate about the most effective ways for children to be educated and cared for in our times.
8th February 2008

The recent media focus on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) that becomes law next September has required the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship to make clear its view of the EYFS, as in the statement below.
SWSF statement regarding the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

The SWSF respects the sincerity with which the government has tackled issues around childhood and education over the last ten years and does not support a blanket condemnation of the EYFS.
We recognise that the new EYFS introduces a much needed single body of regulation for the care and education of young children from birth to five and that this integrated framework is the result of a fundamental overhaul of the regulation that followed the death of Victoria Climbie.We also recognise the progressive nature of the 4 principles that the EYFS framework is based on and that these principles have the potential to bring improved practice into the care and education of all young children.
We acknowledge that the EYFS is not a curriculum and that the Minister has given assurance that the implementation of the EYFS will accommodate and encourage different approaches to the care and education of young children.We are concerned, however, that the progressive nature of the EYFS is overshadowed by· the statutory nature of the learning and development requirements· the statutory nature of the requirement to submit data about each child’s learning and development in the Early years foundation stage profileThe fact that the EYFS contains certain statutory requirements that are in direct conflict with the Steiner Early Years curriculum is causing alarm. The concern is that, without a legal solution, the statutory nature of these requirements has the potential to undermine the very basis of the Steiner curriculum which is recognised world-wide. We therefore are continuing to seek reassurance from DCSF and OFSTED that the implementation of the EYFS will not compromise the Steiner EY curriculum. We intend to explore with the DCSF how the regulations pertaining to exemptions might be drafted to resolve these two issues without jeopardizing the right to funding. A legal solution of this nature would uphold the principle of diversity of approach and parental right of choice

Tuesday November 6, 2007
The Guardian
Alternative perspective
It was a delight to read Nikki Schreiber’s fair and down-to-earth depiction of Steiner education (Not a Guardian-reading weirdo in sight, October 30). Alas, those of us who work in the Steiner movement are commonly the recipients of all manner of negative projections, often from those who know next to nothing about it. What is so refreshing about Schreiber’s article is the unaffected ordinariness that it conveys – accurately communicating the spirit and ethos without a hint of the preciousness of which we are sometimes accused. In an era where the poisonous audit and surveillance culture continues to swamp mainstream education, viable and tested alternatives such as Steiner will surely continue to gain in popularity.
Dr Richard House Norwich Steiner school and Roehampton University (Research Centre for Therapeutic Education)
I went to a Steiner school (in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire), and agree with Nikki Schreiber that it’s much harder to stereotype a Steiner child or parent than many think. There was quite a mix of people at my school – although the requirement to charge fees inevitably results in a middle-class bias.
My Steiner education brought out an artistic and musical side to me that would otherwise have been overlooked. Teamwork and mixed-ability teaching is encouraged at Steiner schools, while individual competition is avoided. This helps to build a spirit of cooperation and friendship. However, our school also got very good exam results.
Unfortunately, the lack of state funding in the UK prevents Steiner education from being a choice for most parents, and has contributed to its niche status. This is despite successive governments declaring that education policy is all about “choice”.
I believe wholeheartedly in the principle of state education, but would find it difficult to send my children to a state school, because of their strong focus on academic achievement at the expense of all else. The years that I spent at a Steiner school were some of the best of my life.
Oliver Knight London
source:https://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2205523,00.html

Not a Guardian-reading weirdo in sight
There are many strange ideas about Steiner schools. One ‘normal’ parent aims to set the record straight. Nikki Schreiber reports:
Tuesday October 30, 2007The Guardian

Unfortunately, the Hereford southern sub committee voted to refuse planning consent for the proposed new buildings for the Hereford Steiner Acadamy on the same grounds as last time – issues around the development not being in keeping with the village setting and traffic/parking issues. An appeal on the first refusal in January has already been lodged.

The online version of the Birmingham Post has published the following article.
School where learning is child’s playJun 18 2007By Shahid Naqvi, Education Correspondent
“It’s been dubbed the “the hippy school”, a place where it is said children, not teachers, are in charge and spend all day playing. But the Steiner School in Stourbridge may yet offer a solution to current travails in the state education – and even society”.
Read the article HERE

FAMILY FRIENDLY CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES
The concert series is to raise money for the further restoration of St Paul’s Church by the St Pauls Steiner Project which is bringing this heritage building back into use as a life-long learning centre for all the community.
The Steiner school which it houses is in the process of making application for public funding and could be the first such state funded school in London, operating as a local school for the children of Islington.
For more information about the school and its application for public funding, contact us on 020 7359 3322.
knaveconcertinfo1.pdf
knaveconcertinfo2.pdf

In Memory of Wim Moleman(26th June 1907-1st February 2007)
“Hiaigheey!”To be greeted by Wim was an invitation to a world of full of humanity & humour. Many of his British friends referred to him affectionately as “Uncle Wim.” His wisdom, mischievous chuckle, equanimity & profound jollity could fill the space around him, much as a glowing fire takes the chill from a cold room.
Conversation with Wim could take unexpected turns & bring surprising discoveries; I rarely parted from him without feeling that I was carrying away a special gift given by his presence. Once greeted, he would ask about my work in the UK & listen attentively. After sharing my concerns or irritations with Wim, I always saw them differently & more positively, though often, he would reply simply with a contemplative sigh, “Yaahh!” look over the top of his heavy glasses, & speak about things that might at first seem unrelated. Then later, something about the conversation would return to my thoughts & cast them in a new light, or, it might be better to say, give them new warmth. It was easy to understand how Wim was drawn to Sandra Bloom’s work on “creating sanctuaries” within social organisations.
I first met Wim when I was setting up what became the Steiner Waldorf Advisory Service. Wim had for some years before that been travelling to UK schools to “see whether we can help.” These were his busman’s holidays from work in the Netherlands advisory institute. Many a school in crisis benefited from his visits & colleagues in them would report that people behaved better when Wim was present. He took great interest in the development of the UK advisory service & was a tireless mentor & wise counsellor. Even after his cancer was diagnosed & he knew that his remaining time on earth would be limited, he asked to be sent a copy of the research report for the Hereford Academy &, aided by a colleague from the institute, made notes about it in his usual idiosyncratic English. He had a deep sense of care towards what happened in UK Waldorf schools & offered some surprising, but always encouraging, insights about what might be done. When Jane & I met him at his home to hear his views on the Academy report, these were, as always, forward-looking & positive with a keen sense for potential implications & dangers.
On matters of Waldorf school organisation, Wim was a positive realist. He knew that consultants “usually get things wrong” & said so. His advice had a self-deprecating quality that left those he advised feeling free to develop processes for themselves. On the other hand he could be direct & incisive when that was what the situation called for. Even after his official retirement from the advisory institute, he was crisis managing a small school on the brink of closure. Not a physically skilful person – he had co-ordination problems & never learned to drive – he nonetheless recognised the need of those who needed a more practically-orientated form of education. He was involved in the Hiram Foundation in Holland & supported & inspired the development of the Hiram Trust in the UK.
Wim traced inspiration for his work to Max Stibbe & Bernard Lievegoed. I first heard about Lievegoed’s final book from him (published in English as The Battle for the Soul) & was struck by the way Wim spoke about what Lievegoed calls the “Manu stream” of humanity. On another occasion he told me of correspondence he had had with the Humanistic psychologist, Carl Rogers, shortly before Rogers’ death in 1987. Wim was not so much a person of ideas or initiatives as one through whom a wide variety of knowledge, skills & experience met. I do not know whether Lievegoed is correct in suggesting that there is a distinct group of individuals who have a helping quality within them that can lead to social healing. What I do know is that Wim Moleman had that quality & we are the richer for having known him.
Kevin Avison

I returned from the Fellowship’s Fundraising Conference with Sir Christopher Ball head buzzing with ideas, plans and excitement! I have been truly inspired by the last two days and my efforts on behalf of Brighton Steiner School re-energised, honed and focused. Sir Christopher promised that what he would teach us was simple and easy, and that he was engaging in transformational learning, transforming our poverty consciousness into a clear, workable strategy for raising the money we need for our various schools, no matter the figure. And he delivered what he promised. Early on he had asked us all how much we needed; the figures ranged from £60,000 to £2,000,000 but we all came away feeling the target was easily achievable.
The conference was surprisingly poorly attended, given the financial issues that all Steiner schools are facing, but I can guarantee that all those who attended would thoroughly recommend it. As well as the Fellowship and the two of us from Brighton, Derby, Cambridge, Somerset and Cardiff schools were represented. Those interested in hearing more detailed information about what we learned might consider calling one of us: one of the conclusions of the event was the value of information sharing.
We focused on the principles of fundraising, namely:

believe it’s possible
remember to ask
follow up and say thank-you

along with loads of hints, tips and suggestions about who to go to, how to approach them, what to say, what not to say, what sectors of funding were available and the relative merits of each, how much work might be needed and what timescales you need to be working towards. Whatever your fundraising project, attending this course will equip you with the tools you need to get the money you want. The good news for those that missed it, is that we all agreed the course should be run again, and I urge all of those involved in Steiner fundraising to attend.
Before we all get carried away with how we’ll spend our new-found millions, it has to be said that there was a tougher aspect to the course. For all of us, there were major issues holding up the fundraising projects and, as every single school represented reported similar problems, it is worth looking at them in more detail. Sir Christopher stated repeatedly that there were a number of pre-requisites for effective fundraising:

a clear and viable project
a concise mission statement
an accurate 3 year business plan
a dynamic and effective project leader

For most of us, there were a number of plans potentially on the table, unhelpfully shrouded in indecision and conflict from within our school body. Throughout the weekend we bemoaned a management structure that restricted the kind of openness and forward thinking we were all beginning to take on board. We had realised that major fundraising was possible for us, but that we hadn’t gained agreement on what direction our school should be taking, or how that should be achieved.
It became such an issue that in the end the final session was given over to constructive debate of the perceived roadblocks to successful fundraising, and the importance of overcoming them. Having Jane and Kevin Avison from the Fellowship in attendance, along with freelance trainer Gabriel Kaye, was enormously helpful in taking the first steps to support all Steiner schools who wished to address these issues. Firstly, we agreed that it would be marvellous to offer this training with Sir Christopher Ball again, in order to allow other schools to benefit. Secondly, it was suggested that the relationship with the Potential Trust, who funded this training, could be extended to provide other forms of training to address the crisis of management in Steiner schools. Jane and Kevin Avison have already agreed to meet Leo McNeir of the Potential Trust to this end. From the discussion there seemed to be a number of blocks about money in our schools. In a worst case scenario, it might be seen that we were rejecting state funding, because it is an unknown quantity and may compromise the education, rejecting corporate funding for pretty much the same reason, and rejecting raising fees as that would price the education beyond many parents’ reach, leaving us no viable way to finance our schools.
Personally I am still a little unclear as to why the Steiner education movement as a whole, which has such a fantastic ‘product’ to offer, has become stagnant on issues of good management and financial planning. I came away from this training, however, feeling that the solutions to these issues were within reach, and the will to achieve them close at hand. Thank-you to the Fellowship, the Potential Trust, Sir Christopher Ball and all attendees for an inspiring weekend!
Sarah James PR for Brighton Steiner School

Living Education is a journal for Steiner Waldorf Schools. It is a more modest form of Steiner Education magazine which itself was the successor to Child and Man.
We are limiting its size to three longer items and some short items for the time being. We welcome feedback. The first issue has articles on the class teaching cycle, Montessori and Steiner and architecture for Waldorf pedagogy.
To obtain a regular copy simply email the SWSF office at le@swsf.org.uk and place LE in the subject box and you will automatically receive issues as they appear three times a year. If anyone would prefer a hard copy the office can despatch this to you on application at a cost of £1.50 plus postage per copy.
Issues are also available from the documents section of this website

Family who’ve been at school for 50 yearsFELIX LOWE
WATCHING your child start school for the first time is a special day for any parent.But when little Michael Maclean walks through the school gates on Wednesday it will be a momentous occasion for the entire family.The six-year-old will be the 24th Maclean to attend Rudolf Steiner School, in Morningside, continuing a family tradition that has stretched back 50 years.Since 1956, not a year has passed when the name did not feature on one class register or another.Michael will be joining six cousins, Sophia, Lisbeth, Christina, Herman, Olga and Brenda, and his step brother, Duncan, who are already at the school.“I am very excited to be starting in Class One,” said Michael. “The teachers are nice and I will be at school with my cousins, which will be fun. I am not nervous about Wednesday and am lucky as I live near to the school.”Michael is keeping alive a tradition started by his uncle Christian Maclean.Christian, 56, was sent to the special independent school after his mother attended a Steiner school in Germany during her childhood. He said: “She loved it so much that she never doubted which school she would choose for us.”Christian became the first member of the Maclean Steiner dynasty at Edinburgh after he joined the school in 1956. He was soon joined by his six siblings, three of whom – including Michael’s father Iain – decided their children should follow in their footsteps.Christian, whose own three children attended the school too, added: “We all shared [my mother’s] enthusiasm because the style of education that you receive at a Steiner school is unique.”Andrew Farquharson, head of management at the school, said: “We are looking forward to the next 50 years of the Maclean family.”This article: https://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=1268482006Last updated: 28-Aug-06 12:53 BST
Family who’ve been at school for 50 years©2006 Scotsman.com contact

Waldorf volunteers rescued from Lebanon
KARLSRUHE (NNA) – Three German volunteers undertaking voluntary service at the Rudolf Steiner School in Beirut and on a social therapy farm in Baalbek were dramatically rescued from war-torn Lebanon earlier this month.
According to the Karlsruhe office of the international organisation Friends of Waldorf Education (“Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners e.V.”), the three volunteers, Marie Pfister, Tabea von Verschuer and Matthias Galle, had at first been taken to various places of safety in Lebanon when the fighting began.
When a village close to the Rudolf Steiner School’s summer camp had been bombed, the Lebanese partner organisation of the Friends of Waldorf Education, FISTA, decided to move the two volunteers working there to the German Evangelical Church’s community centre in Beirut. From there they were taken by bus convoy organised by the German embassy to Damascus airport, where tens of thousands of refugees from many different countries were already waiting to leave.
The third volunteer working in Baalbek was taken to Damascus by secret routes by a FISTA member of staff after the roads and buildings in and around the town had been bombed and there was a risk that escape would no longer be possible.
After their 16-hour rescue, the three young people were received by the Friends of Waldorf Education team in Damascus and flown to Stuttgart via Italy on the next day.
In Stuttgart they met up with a group of Lebanese pupils from the Beirut Rudolf Steiner School who had attended the UNESCO Peace Festival in the city and had subsequently been given asylum in the Karl Schubert School in Stuttgart since it is currently too dangerous for the children to return to Lebanon.
The successful evacuation was planned and executed in close collaboration between Friends of Waldorf Education, the German foreign ministry, the German embassies in Beirut and Damascus and the Lebanese partner organisation FISTA.
Some 400 young people are currently undertaking voluntary service in anthroposophical institutions in 50 countries all over the world through Friends of Waldorf Education. The organisation has appealed for financial support for the expensive rescue action.
Photos can be requested from Friends of Waldorf Education.
Account details for donations: name: Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners e. V., bank: Badische Beamtenbank Karlsruhe, bank sort code: 66090800, account number: 1014250, purpose: „Aktion Libanon“
Link:www.freunde-waldorf.de
Item: 070631-01EN Date: 31 July 2006
Copyright 2006 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See https://www.nna-news.org/copyright/
More NNA reports at: https://www.nna-news.org/

Roxana Bibi, a class teacher at St Paul’s Steiner School in London has been interviewed by Emily Elias for the Independent, 08 September 2005
Download the article here

State schools ‘could learn from Steiner principles’ Polly Curtis, education correspondentThursday June 30, 2005
Ministers should consider adopting Steiner school principles of putting pupils’ spiritual and social awareness ahead of test results, a government-backed study recommended today.The Steiner schools movement was started by Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian educationalist, who a century ago developed a curriculum that advocates developing pupils’ spirituality and sense of social justice to help them learn.There are 23 independent Steiner schools in the UK, charging between £1,000 and £4,000 a term. Most other European countries have Steiner state schools. Last month, the government announced it was conducting a feasibility study to see whether it could set up a state-funded Steiner school, and today’s report, based on research at 21 of the schools, will fuel speculation that the government is considering introducing more of them.Today it emerged that the government is to fund the introduction of Montessori teaching at a Manchester primary school. Although often compared with Steiner schools, Montessori schools differ in that they do not follow a strict curriculum, instead they give pupils total control over their education, deciding the pace at which they learn and advocating learning through play.Philip Woods, of the University of West of England, who led today’s research, said Steiner schools were successful in teaching foreign languages at an early age, getting pupils enthusiastic about learning and involving them in choosing what they wanted to learn about.“We also found that the emphasis given to the non-hierarchical, collegial form of running schools, offers a contrast to current practice in the maintained sector and may prove relevant for mainstream schools,” he said.Pupils at Steiner schools take GCSEs and A-levels, but they do not sit other national tests, such as Sats, which have been widely criticised by teachers for restricting the curriculum in mainstream schools.But the report also highlighted the problems children have in adjusting when they move between Steiner and non-Steiner schools and points out that while state schools could learn a lot from Steiner schools, the independent schools could also learn from government-run schools.Prof Woods said: “We see a great potential benefit from mutual dialogue and professional interaction between Steiner and mainstream educators. As well as the good practices we have identified from Steiner schools there are also areas in which Steiner schools could benefit from maintained sector practices such as management skills, organisational and administrative efficiency, classroom management, working with older secondary school children and record-keeping and assessment.”For Steiner schools to be state-funded the government would have to bend the rules to allow them to opt out of the national curriculum. But with the government increasingly encouraging schools to take more control over how they are run and what they teach, and with moves towards giving parents more choice of different kinds of schools, the report suggests ministers might support such a move.The independent report was commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills, which today said it was considering its findings. A DfES spokesman said: “The government is committed to widening diversity in education provision in the interests of raising standards and offering parents a choice of schools for their child.”The DfES has been working with the Steiner fellowship of schools since 2001 to discuss how the schools could be introduced into the state system.

Steiner schools: Learning from experienceSteiner school pupils get a stress-free education – they’re not even taught to read until they’re seven. Now, the Government is set to turn one into an Academy. Hilary Wilce reportsPublished: 07 July 2005 IndependentSteiner schools: Learning from experience
A field in Herefordshire could become the birthplace of one of the most radical departures our school system has seen. Right now, it is just buttercups and cow parsley, but if current plans stay on track, this field will soon be home to the first state-funded Steiner school in Britain.Last week, we reported that the Government was making common cause with the privately funded Montessori schools movement to rescue a struggling state primary school in Manchester. Today, we can reveal that it is getting into bed with the private Steiner movement. That means the Government that gave us curriculum tests and league tables will be supporting a school where tests and exams are almost non-existent, and where play and dance are seen as every bit as important as formal classroom learning.And if – as Steiner supporters hope – this coming together of the two systems allows some of these ideas to filter into mainstream schools, the children of our noisy, socially fractured world could benefit immeasurably. “The Steiner curriculum is a therapeutic curriculum,” stresses Sylvie Sklan, development director of the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship. “It is perfect for disadvantaged children. It should be available in the inner cities.”“There is definitely scope for two-way learning,” says Philip Woods, professor of education at the University of the West of England, who has just completed a major study on Steiner schooling, commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills. “And learning across boundaries is a significant theme of Government policy.”
There are 31 Steiner schools in the UK and Ireland, but they have never had any public money, unlike their counterparts in other European countries. In fact, they exist on the margins of educational consciousness – something, people tend to think, to do with tree-hugging.In fact, the framework of Steiner schools is closely prescribed, and built on the view that a child’s creative, spiritual and moral dimensions need as much attention as their intellectual ones. “When people used to say to my mother: ‘Aren’t those the schools where children do what they like?’,” says teacher Alison Gilbert, “she used to say: ‘No, they’re the schools where children like what they do.’”Even so, it is ground-breaking that the Government has decided to expand its drive towards school diversity – mainly used to encompass Moslem and church schools – to embrace such a different educational philosophy, and it’s no surprise to find it has not been easy.The idea has been kicking around for six years. Estelle Morris, when she was Education Secretary, and Andrew Adonis, now an education minister, have pushed for it to happen, but attempts to set up a voluntary-aided school in London foundered, and three years ago it was decided to go down a different route.Now, plans are being worked out to make the Hereford Waldorf School in Much Dewchurch, currently housed in a converted barn, a new, all-in Academy taking about 300 pupils aged five to 16. But there are tricky issues to negotiate. Steiner teachers want to protect their ideas; the Government needs its schools to be accountable.
So far it has been agreed that the Steiner curriculum will not be compromised, provided that pupils are taught English, maths and science – no problem, since the Herefordshire pupils already take public exams in these subjects. The Government has accepted that Key Stage 1 tests are irrelevant to the Steiner curriculum, and that any Key Stage 2 testing would have to be flexible, and the results not for publication. There will be no selection on ability, admissions will be based on parents’ commitment to the philosophy, and the role of a head, as a financial manager, will have to be worked out, as Steiner schools are run as teacher democracies.At the school, Steiner-qualified teachers will be expected to work towards graduate status if they do not have a degree, but – to the annoyance of the teachers unions – qualified teacher status is seen as a national curriculum-based qualification and inappropriate. Computers will not be used in the lower school, as the Steiner philosophy is that screen images hinder the development of thought and imagination, and the school will be free to decide how to use them in its upper school, provided that pupils become competent at ICT.
The school will be sponsored by the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship, and sponsorship money – 10 per cent of capital costs – will come from a European software house and a private donor.And it looks as if local parents could be clamouring to get their children into the place. Following the news that there could, potentially, be government funding for the school, this year’s open day attracted many more visitors than usual, and it is likely that they would have been impressed by the pupils’ calm and confidence, and their powers of concentration.This, teachers make clear, is because they are brought up from the beginning in Steiner ways. In the kindergarten they play with simple, unfinished wooden toys rather than bright plastic ones, to allow their imaginations to develop. “People say, ‘don’t they get bored?’” says teacher Karen Fielding. “And we say, ‘No, because every day it’s something different.’”When pupils move up a class, they stay with the same teacher, right to the end of their schooling. This means personal differences have to be worked through. It can be hard, acknowledges teacher David Donaldson, but you get to work at relationships at a very deep level.
The school day begins with an important settling-in session, where children work off physical energies and draw together in common purpose. Younger children sing and play games with bean bags; older ones might do something outside, then play the recorder and recite “the verse” together – a religious-sounding affirmation of the spirit of life.This is followed by a two-hour “main lesson”, where students follow one subject for three weeks, exploring it in depth and from all angles before moving on to something else. The afternoons are given over to arts and crafts activities.
The lessons are based on whole-class learning, with the teacher first speaking about something, before the class moves on to talking about it, writing about it, and illustrating what they have written.
There is an old-fashioned, courtly quality to these classes, with children sitting at wooden desks, and a high standard of work – although it helps that class numbers are small. A class of 14-year-olds is studying The Tempest, and discussing the nature of Caliban. He is, they volunteer, “a deformed human being” or “half-devil, half-witch”, and argue about whether they should feel sorry for him.Upstairs, teacher Karin Hines is teaching history of art to the top class of 15-year-olds, who have just finished a three-week module on physics. These students do GCSEs in English literature, language and in maths, and Open College Network qualifications in crafts and sciences, but are not rattled by exams. “The local sixth form college loves to have them,” she says. “They say they’re mature, interested, articulate and ask lots of questions.“You work twice as hard for half the pay here. But where else could I teach history of art in the morning and do blacksmithing in the afternoon, with a bit of chemistry thrown in as well?”Ruth Hardy, 15, and Leila Terrett, 16, are adamant that they would send their own children to Steiner schools. They love the family atmosphere and the way that Steiner children are so creative. Most of them cook, they say, and many make their own clothes, and tend to be practical.
There are things that are weird to outside eyes. The curriculum goes for depth, not breadth, and the laboratory and art room facilities are pitiful. There are few books and no computers. Children learn to write using huge pencils, and to paint using huge brushes. The art is stunning, but closely controlled, with children instructed how to proceed through the colour spectrum. There is basket-weaving, and also a ritualised dance form called eurythmy.Rudolf Steiner founded his first school back in 1919 for the children of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory workers, but he understood that rhythmic, coordinated physical exercise helps the brain, and that the development of the imagination is central to a good education. He knew children needed room to breathe, and had to come to things when they were ready for them, and he understood the importance of helping them to develop as whole people. He also pre-empted Jamie Oliver by almost a century, pointing out the need to feed children good, wholesome food.
There are 900 Steiner schools worldwide. They work successfully in South African townships and Eastern European refugee camps, as well as in wealthy parts of America and our own Surrey commuter belt. Gilbert says: “It all comes out of how you work with your children – how you work with them in your mind while you’re preparing lessons, how you hold them in your heart. It’s based on the notion that the child is a spiritual being, and that you are caring for something precious.”
There is a shortage of Steiner school teachers in the UK. If you would like to know more about the different pathways to becoming one, please phone the Hereford Waldorf school on 01981 540221, or view training options at steinerwaldorf.org.uk/training.htmWhat is Steiner education about?
1. Co-educational, comprehensive schools, run co-operatively by teachers, which follow an internationally recognised curriculum, without early specialisation2. A balance of artistic, practical and intellectual teaching, plus an emphasis on social skills and spiritual values3. Children have the same class teacher from seven to 14. They do two foreign languages from the age of six. Mental arithmetic happens daily. Calculators and computers are banned until children are older. Whole-class teaching is the norm.4. Formative assessment rather than testing. GCSEs and A-levels can be taken alongside the full curriculum, usually a year later.

First comprehensive report on English Steiner schools published
A unique study, the first comprehensive mapping of Steiner School Education in England, conducted by researchers at the University of the West of England on behalf of the DfES, will be published on 30 June 2005.
This wide-ranging study covers leadership, curriculum, teaching style and methods, educational philosophy, the approach to special educational needs and national tests as well as links with parents and staffing.
Education in Steiner schools is based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, known as anthroposophy, and the schools provide an alternative approach to mainstream education in the UK and many other countries. The schools have distinctive practices which emphasise the development of the whole child and in particular the spiritual aspects of their development.
In England there are 23 Steiner schools and the research covered 21 of these – 15 were visited and a number of case studies carried out, as well as a survey of Steiner teachers and a review of existing research studies. The study aimed to identify good practice, find differences and common ground with mainstream education, and to find out how the two sectors might learn from each other.
Current education policy is to broaden choice for parents through diversity of provision as well as promoting the freedom for schools to excel through innovation, collaboration and sharing. The report also makes recommendations should Steiner schools enter the maintained sector.
Professor Philip Woods who led the research says the report identified a number of strengths in Steiner schools, “There was a striking consistency between the schools, despite a large variation in the size and resources available. Overall we found areas of good practice such as the early introduction and approach to modern foreign languages, development of speaking and listening through oral work and the combination of class and subject teaching for younger children. In addition the development of good pace in lessons through an emphasis on rhythm, the emphasis on child development in guiding the curriculum, and Steiner schools’ approach to art and creativity were all distinctive strengths. We also found that the emphasis given to teachers reflective activity and heightened awareness as well as the non-hierarchical, collegial form of running schools, offers a contrast to current practice in the maintained sector and may prove relevant for mainstream schools.”
While the report cautions about the difficulties of transferring practices from schools with differing philosophies, it says there is considerable scope for many aspects of the good practice of Steiner schools to inform what goes on in state schools, and vice versa, and it suggests LEAs, government and Steiner schools should promote opportunities for professional dialogue between the two sectors.
Professor Woods says, “We see a great potential benefit from mutual dialogue and professional interaction between Steiner and mainstream educators. As well as the good practices we have identified from Steiner schools there are also areas in which Steiner schools could benefit from maintained sector practices such as management skills, organisational and administrative efficiency, classroom management, working with older secondary school children and record keeping and assessment.”
The report also identifies the challenges facing Steiner schools, if they were to become part of the state-funded sector and offers a series of recommendations to meet these challenges, “Governments, LEAs and Steiner Schools need to promote a wider understanding of the philosophy behind the schools, and there needs to be a greater understanding amongst assessment bodies of the ways in which Steiner schools assess progress and facilitate pupils’ learning. We also recommend that, if Steiner schools became part of the state sector, the Government would need to enable Steiner schools to opt out of the National Curriculum. There would also be challenges to be met in the way the schools are managed and the training of teachers.”
The report recommends further research into the relative effectiveness of Steiner and mainstream school practices to strengthen the evidence base of Steiner schools.
Editor’s notes
The research team are: Professor Philip Woods, Dr Glenys Woods and Dr Martin Ashley from the Faculty of Education, at the University of the West of England.
Copies of the full report, ‘Steiner Schools In England’ (RR645) – priced £4.95 – are available by writing to DfES Publications, PO Box 5050, Sherwood Park, Annesley, Nottingham NG15 0DJ.
Cheques should be made payable to “DfES Priced Publications”.
Copies of this Research Brief (RB645) are available free of charge from the above address (tel: 0845 60 222 60). Research Briefs and Research Reports can also be accessed at www.dfes.gov.uk/research/
Further information about this research can be obtained from Elif Aksit, 6D, DfES, Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BT.
E-mail: elif.aksit@dfes.gsi.gov.uk
The views expressed in the report are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department for Education and Skills.
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