Contact  person for the Pedagogical Section is Neil Carter  

 

An email version of the January 2008 Journal for Waldorf/Rudolf Steiner Education is available here and copies are also available at $10 per issue (discounts for bulk orders) by contacting Neil Carter)

Available for purchase: Vol 10.2  July 2008

---

Extracts from Journal for Waldorf/Rudolf Steiner Education Vol 9  2007

 

------Pedagogical Section Work in New Zealand

 

Any  Waldorf Teacher actively working out of anthroposophy in their work may identify

themselves as ‘co-workers’ of the Pedagogical Section if they so wish.

The Section does however have an organizing group of members of an Initiative circle who are also connected to the School of Spiritual Science (refer left hand side links - School of Spiritual Science )

Since 1999, individual Initiative Circle members  in New Zealand have organised several Conferences, published three

books, and have regularly produced the Journal for Waldorf/Rudolf Steiner Education , now done in collaboration with the Circles in Australia and Hawaii.

Neil Carter, as the present coordinator in New Zealand, is also a member of the 

‘New Zealand Steiner Teacher Education’ group (NZSTE) established by the Federation of Rudolf Steiner Schools in New Zealand.

This group gives support to the Taruna one year Steiner Teacher Diploma, the two year In-service  Certificate Courses for Waldorf teachers, and the Auckland University of Technology Degree Courses  in early Childhood and Primary Education — offering both Bachelors and Masters Degrees.

It has been a very positive step that the Section and Federation now collaborate in the area of Waldorf  Teacher education in this way.

 

The Initiative Circle also supports the biennial Fellowship of Waldorf teachers in New Zealand Conferences   and   organises meetings — open

to any Waldorf teacher interested in the work — usually during Anthroposophical or such Educational Conferences. At these meetings the purpose of the Pedagogical Section and the results of activities  such as publishing, research, collaboration with other educational organizations, etc, are shared.

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In conclusion

We hope that as more teachers become involved on the one hand, in the work of trying to bring their

insights into a spiritual scientific relationship, and on the other hand, in the fruits of their meditative

work into the active work in the classroom, that the Pedagogical Section will evolve its form as a

place where we can develop enough strength in our own individual artistic striving to bring newness

to the work, and enough humility that we can admire and appreciate the strivings and insights of our

colleagues, as we work together at this task that is greater than us all.

Steiner (1995), Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, translated as Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path  Hudson, NY, Anthroposophic Press

(the above is an extract from an article by Neil Carter, Peter Glasby and Alduino Mazzonne)

 

 

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_________________________________________________________________

AWAKENING THE SPIRITUAL POWERS OF THE HEAD, EDUCATING THE WILL

~ Preparing for the World Teachers’ Conference in April 2008

by Christof Wiechert, Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland

(reprinted with permission from the Journal of the Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum, Dornach  ,Switzerland. Issue 29, Christmas 2006)

In the announcement in issue 28 of the Journal of the Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum, we

pointed to the three tasks which are provided for future teachers at the end of the Study of Man:

Imbue thyself with the power of imagination,

Have courage for the truth,

Sharpen thy feeling for responsibility of soul.

 

In these three admonitions the beautiful, the true and the good may be recognised as three basic

attitudes. At this point we can experience how close pedagogy is to general human nature, which

Steiner describes as the field of activity for the Anthroposophical Society. Then there was an account

of how the beautiful, imagination, is placed in the middle between the true and the good, between

truth and responsibility. It is not hard to recognise how the soul forces of thinking, feeling and willing

shine through these three qualities. In the last World Teachers’ Conference in 2004 we concerned

ourselves with feeling, with the beautiful, with imagination, in fact. Now we intend to turn our

attention to the question of thinking and of willing in education. In order to establish a basis for this

we need to pose the question about the relationship of body, soul and spirit within the human being.

 

Let us consider the threefoldedness of man in a completely general way. We can say thinking is bound

to the head more than anything else. How does the head formation of the small child present itself?

We have this powerful experience of a new-born baby, how relatively complete, how developed, how

sound the head strikes us as being. All the rest is still like an appendage. It is this fact that is pointed

out in the Study of Man, when the head is portrayed as being ‘wholly body’. It is a body, in which the

soul is concentrated but still completely in a state of half awareness or dreaming, whereas the spiritual

part is still in the night of unconsciousness. This fact enables the developing child, just because it is

not yet awake in its soul and spirit, to be present with its soul-spiritual nature in its surroundings just

as in the same way the sleeping person’s soul spiritual nature is not present in his body. This enables

the child to enter into a relationship with its surroundings and thus start practising imitation too; this is

a really special learning process, which takes place with the person in a ‘dreaming’ state.

It is different with the rhythmic man. This aspect of the human being, the chest, we must think of as

body-soul from the outset; we should not consider it primarily as bodily nature as with the head, but as

body and soul nature from the start. The child still has the spirit outside itself as in a dreaming state.

In this respect, Steiner gives the kindergarten teachers an important task, which sounds like a riddle at

first:

‘When we observe a child in his early years, we see clearly that the chest organs, as contrasted

with the head organs, are much more awake and more living.’

 

If we behold the human being in his limb system, then we experience how spirit, soul and body are

interwoven with one another and interconnected, ‘they all flow into one another. Moreover it is here

that the child is first fully awake, as those who have to bring up these lively, kicking little creatures in

their babyhood know very well. Everything is awake, but absolutely unformed. This is the great secret

of man: when he is born his head spirit is already very highly developed, but asleep. His head soul,

when he is born, is very highly developed, but it only dreams. The spirit and soul have yet gradually to

awaken. The limb man is indeed fully awake at birth, but unformed, undeveloped.’

 

Thus we have to develop the limb man and part of the chest man. Then it is the task of the limb man

and chest man to awaken the head man. Here we come to the true function of teaching and education.

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Volume 9 (June 2007)

‘From this you will see that the child brings something of great consequence to meet you. He meets

you with a perfected spirit and relatively perfected soul, which he has brought through birth. All you

have to do is to develop that part of his spirit which is not yet perfect, and that part of his soul which

is as yet still less perfect. If this were not so, real education and teaching would be utterly impossible.

 

 

 

The thing we can accomplish best in our teaching is the education of the will, and part of the

education of the feeling life.” 1

We may justifiably consider this characterisation as a mighty sea-change in education and in

educational theory, even today. For, how strong is the conviction of people in general that in

education we have to concern ourselves primarily with the head! Learning as a head activity, which

then leads to developing children’s abilities, that is, top-down. Steiner turns it on its head and says

education in the second seven year period goes bottom-up, via the limbs, via the soul. It is through

involvement, through interest that the spiritual powers of the head (Kopfgeist) are awakened.

It really is an awakening and this is shown by the following fact. As a class teacher one will have

‘taught’ many children to read. However, if we look more closely at the process involved, then one

has probably not caught the moment of actual learning with a single child. As a rule what we perceive

is, all at once they can do it. It is an awakening, resulting from an activity, from enthusiasm.

It is a matter of course that this kind of learning holds sway until the moment when the ability to learn

is emancipated through the awakening of the powers of judgement: then the spiritual powers of the

head are awakened and become active themselves. Then the will part no longer stems from the

activating of the human being in his limb system, but rather lives in the will of the active thinking.

This process takes place with the complete change to the third seven-year period but is not completed

as this period begins. It takes time. With one pupil this emancipation of the independent thinking

faculty through the use of the powers of judgement goes quicker, with another pupil it takes more

time. With the one it becomes a really lucid and bright faculty, with another it remains connected to

the warmth processes of the will. This development is the target and focus of the approach, which

Steiner gives us, concerning pupils with rich or poor imaginations: either the thinking, the

conceptualising is more reliant on itself, or else it participates in the warmth processes, in the  circulation.

 

 

Now we can put two questions to ourselves if we want to consider these viewpoints in teaching.

The first question would be, “what do the lessons of the child in the second seven-year period look

like? How do we work in accordance with our teaching methods bottom-up and not top-down?”

The second question, which we have already touched upon in part, would be,” what does this mean

for the first seven-year period, what does it mean for the third?”

 

 

 

Formation of the human figure – life development

As for the first question there is a special indication in the above-mentioned lecture. The most

important part of the first seven-year period is the formation of the human figure, which proceeds

from the head, a process which draws to a close with the change of teeth. The body has taken on its

shape, ‘hardened’ by the formative forces, which have been ‘poured into the body’. This human form

will still grow larger, yet in the wholeness of its shape it is present in its conception. The head is not

only the starting-point for nearly all children’s illnesses, it is also the portal through which the

formative forces pour into the body. What significance does that have for education and upbringing in

this period? It means that everything we do with the children, so to speak, is brought towards them

from outside. We do not call upon their inner nature, on their soul life. In the kindergarten the field of

activity is the whole being of the child, but shaping it, forming it, so to speak, from outside. This can

be observed in free play where the outer framework is created. Through the shaping of space and time

conditions are created, by means of which the whole child can be formed, be shaped. It is a holistic

process.

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JOURNAL for Waldorf / Rudolf Steiner Education

Once this is completed, a new development is embarked on, that of life development. This does not

start from the head, but from the chest system of the person. Once the child has reached the stage of

school readiness, the second spurt of growth sets in; it begins to stretch, to grow. This phase of

stretching is followed by a phase of filling out, in short, ‘becoming big’ is a central subject of

conversation at this age. When this phase of growth comes to a temporary halt, around the eleventh or

twelfth year, the children’s approach to learning changes.

If it is the task in the first years of the Lower school not to disturb this growth, then we will notice

how roughly from Class 5 or 6 on a freer approach to learning comes about. The span of interests

increases noticeably and more can be learnt. However, learning is always embedded in the processes

of growing, nourishing, of experiencing the world, of sleeping and waking. All theses processes, all

this breathing, is orientated towards the middle. The human being in his chest system, the being of

feeling, the breathing person, forms the centre and the orientation of child education in this period.

 

The educator is now working mainly on the inner nature of the child. The child is no longer reached

from without, rather the key to the child lies within, in its inner life; that means not in its powers of

consciousness, but in its ‘powers of feeling’.

Now when the human being in the process of becoming, reaches the third seven-year period and the

powers of judgement start to unfold, a third stage makes its appearance. If Steiner speaks in the abovementioned

lecture about the formation of the human figure and the shaping of life, we could say for

the third stage: the shaping of the soul. In the Upper School the pupil is now seeking the way from

within to without. The teacher ‘calls forth’ this shaping of the soul through the presence of his ego. It

finds its expression through thinking, feeling and willing taking on an increasingly personal character.

These are ideas which provide an orientation. If we are filled with such thoughts, this has an effect on

our every day teaching `life. Now we have a basis which will empower us to ponder the question

about the development of the will and of thinking throughout the various stages of development. This

is to be the object of the next study.

1 Rudolf Steiner (1966), The Study of Man, London: Rudolf Steiner Press (lectures given in 1919 for the first

Waldorf teachers, Lecture 11, Paragraphs 7-9, GA 293, italics by the author, Christof Wiechert)

_______________________________________________________________

Education – Health for Life

Education and medicine working together for a healthy development

Edited and co-authored by, Dr Michaela Gloeckler, Stefan Langhammer and Christof Wiechert

Out of the world-wide impulse of the Kolisko Conferences 2006, this conference compendium

developed from one of specific published research to a text which shares the experiences and

thoughts of more than 15 individuals well known in their fields. The driving force for this text

was Dr Michaela Glöckler, a paediatrician who was also a Waldorf teacher. There are 20

chapters, with numerous sub-chapters, the contents of which range from The Task of theSchool Doctor, Gifted Children, Meditations for Teachers, to Projective Geometry. An especially

moving chapter contains questions from teachers, such as ‘How do I love my children,

particularly the difficult ones?’ and ‘Individual support work: at what age can this start?’

The books are in A4 format, 309 pages, with a soft cover and a fold-back fly sheet. For

distribution centres for Australia please see www.koliskochild.com or phone Annette Brian +61 2 9416 2818; for New Zealand and other countries please see www.kolisko.net or phone

Brenda Cook +64 2 74463527

_________________________________________________________________

Volume 9 (June 2007)

EIGHT YEARS OF THE JOURNAL FOR WALDORF/RUDOLF STEINER TEACHERS

Selected References, 1999-2006

Allison, J Encountering the Changing Nature of the Child, Nov 1999 no. 3

Allison, J The Way They Are – The Way We Are, Mar 2000 no. 4

Allison, J The Mystery of Movement, Sept 2000 no. 5

Allison, J Shame and Responsibility, March 2001, no.6

Allison, J Living in Light, Loving the Dark vol 4.1, April 2002

Allison, J Working with the Life Processes, part 1, vol. 8.1, April 2006; part 2, vol. 8.2 Nov 2006

Caris, M Needs of the Modern Child, vol. 3.2, Aug 2001

Carter, N Leadership and Management, vol. 7.1 June 2005

Carter, N Class Six camp at Staveley (mineralogy in class six), vol 8.2 Nov 2006

Clouder, C Norse Myths and Class 4 (Aspects of Waldorf Curriculum, Meeting in Witten, 1998), June

1999, no.2

Clouder, C Moving Forward with Interest – from the International Pedagogical Conference, Easter 2000,

Sept 2000, no. 5

Fairman, E Enlivening the curriculum – practical work in the High School, vol. 8.1 April 2006

Glasby, P & Miller, D Surveying with 10th Class, March 2001, no.6

Glasby, P What is Human in the Practice of Education, vol 3.2, Aug 2001

Glasby, P Adolescents – Relation to the Night and the Senses, vol. 7.1, June 2005

Glasby, P Surveying using Computer Technology, vol. 7.2, Sept 2005

Glöckler, Dr M The Child study, July 1999 Asia Pacific Conference - reported by N Carter

Glöckler, Dr M The Meditative Path, vol. 3.2, August 2001- reported by M Snowdon

Glöckler, Dr M The Heart (from the Asia Pacific Conference 1999), Nov 1999, no.3

Reported by M Bückler

Green, Dr J Upper Schooling, March 2001, no.6

Guttenhofer, Dr P Aesthetic Knowledge as a source for the Main lesson, vol. 6.1, April 2004

Hughes, T Waldorf Education in China, vol. 7.2, Sept 2005

James, V Art - Awakener of consciousness, humaniser of society, vol. 7.2, Nov 2005

James, V Language of the Line, vol 8.2, Nov 2006

Mazzone, Dr A Evolution of Consciousness, Rites of Passage and Waldorf Curriculum, vol 5.2, Nov 2003

Mulder, I Report of International Pedagogical Section Work Week, 1998 in Dornach, March 1999, no. 1

Oswald, F Thoughts on Information and Communication technology, vol 6.1, April 2004

Pewtherer, J A Visit to Waldorf Schools in South Africa, vol. 8.1, April 2006

Riccio, M Did Steiner Want a Seven Grade Primary School, vol 3.2, Aug 2001

Ritchie, Dr D The Nine Year Old, vol 5.2, Nov 2003

Thomson, J Rite of Passage in the Outdoors, vol. 5.2, Nov 2003

Trousdell, I Dr Steiner’s Neglected Story Curriculum, March 2001, no. 6

Turnbull, S The Rate of Learning to read in a Rudolf Steiner School, vol 8.2, Nov 2006

Wagstaff, A Steiner Education and its Management, Problems and Possibilities, part I vol 5.1, part II vol 5.2,

part III vol 6.1, 2003 & 2004

Wright, J Jihad – Holy Struggle or Holy War, vol. 6.1, April 2004

Zimmermann, Dr H What is the Pedagogical Section? March 1999 no. 1

Back copies are available in the Taruna Teachers’ Library, Havelock North, New Zealand and editions from 2002 on can be obtained by contacting waldorf@clear.net.nz

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JOURNAL for Waldorf / Rudolf Steiner Education

Goethe’s Science of Living Form

The Artistic Stages by Nigel Hoffmann

Adonis Press 2007

ISBN 0-932776-35-3

If you have read Nigel’s essay The Unity of Science and Art in ‘Goethe’s way of Science’ (SUNY

Press 1998) then you will know this book is an essential guide to Goethean practice.