A Steiner perspective on understanding human development

We all know teaching can be rewarding and draining – the main reason is that we are humans – emotional beings, we are not machines.

If as teachers we are to educate other human beings we must begin to understand what it is that makes us human. We must learn about human behaviour and how we have evolved thus far.  While there are many theories into this, here I want to share with you the philosophy of Dr Rudolf Steiner, the father of Anthroposophy and Steiner Education.  These philosophies are quite esoteric and not for everyone, please keep in mind it is just one way of seeing the growth and development of the young people we teach.

Dr Steiner begins by saying ....

A Message to Teachers of the next Generation

Why do you do what you do? Why is it you refuse to acknowledge the higher worlds that these children come from? The children that you have before you here are slowly evolving beings just as you are. Each generation has seen shifts in technological developments and shifts in consciousness. Eg what was unheard of 40 years ago is now part of the norm, the same is occurring now. There are many things occurring on an energy level that we cannot see, but it does not mean that they do not exist. Eg When wireless was first introduced, people found it difficult to comprehend how sound waves actually travelled because they could not see them.

Today’s children carry much of the same unexplained phenomena.....

Measuring student performance

We say it and hear it time and time again – teachers trying to juggle the dilemma of teaching knowledge and  skills appropriate for student learning, or teaching skills in how to get the best marks in an exam?

Unfortunately the way I see our current education system, it leads more towards teachers teaching for an exam. Whether that be HSC or NAPLAN, we seem to be more concerned with measuring academic performance at the expenses of leaving behind social and emotional learning.

 Even those teachers who are able to balance......

Choosing the right school for your child

I often have parents asking me where should i send my children?

My answer ....... speak to the teachers of schools that interest you.

Don't worry about what there brochure looks like, how professional it is or how the schools ranks in the standardized testes. Instead, speak to the people who are on the ground, the ones who will actually be influencing your child for potentially the next 6-12 years. The teachers are the people you will be forming relationships with - not the marketing director, the head of admin or the enrollment officer.

Speak to the teachers and get a feel for their philosophy, for how they treat you, for how the students respond to them in the playground. This is what will best inform your decisions when choosing a school for your child.

Why Positive Education in schools?

Did you know the most popular course at Harvard University is positive psychology, the science of happiness. How is that one of the most respected universities for our intellectual faculties is valuing what some might call “warm fuzzy” subjects? How is it, that such a feeling like happiness can be taught at university level? And indeed what is being taught?

Reframing Bullying

Unfortunately bullying is a fact of school no matter how many policies and programs we implement.
The hardest things for parents can be seeing their child in distress after hearing the taunts and experiences  occurring in the school playground.
I work with a lot of parents helping them reframe  the bullying experience with their children and finding ways to better manage it. Here are some tips that I encourage parents to use.
1. Stay calm – it is a fact that our tone communicates more of a message than our words. If you bounce to your child’s defence without finding out all the information first, you will feed a victim attitude instead of a resilient, proactive attitude. Stay calm and ask questions. .....

What Quality Teaching?

We here so much talk about quality teaching with elements, models, standards etc, but what is this really achieving?

We bombard our teachers with excessive workloads, give them new requirements to meet, new programs to implement and new agendas to follow. Just exactly in what time are they suppose to teach, let alone plan and assess.

I have worked in schools for nearly 20 years and frankly, its time to stop and take stock of what is actually happening.

Thankfully others are too. The current rise in popularity of POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY gives us hope that teachers can finally use a tool that does not require a committee meeting, extra funding or extra time. Tools in thinking  communication and facilitation. This is what reap quality teaching is.