Dear Nursery and Parent & Child Families,
Over the past couple of months I have had several discussions with parents about traditions in Waldorf early childhood classrooms--specifically, that what you find in one Waldorf school you may not find in another, and that the point is not that the teachers are following a fixed schedule or list of activities, but that they are observing the children and working out of a picture of child development guided by the insights of Rudolf Steiner and creating a rhythm and environment that serves the children. We were also discussing that parents need not feel they have to do exactly "this" or "that" to be Waldorf parents (indeed, Eugene Schwartz makes fun of this concept that schools and teachers have unintentionally created, that there is only one way to parent to be a "Waldorf" parent), or to have exactly the same rules or approaches in every home--but rather that the parents, like the teachers, observe their children with presence and foster a loving environment that helps that child. In this light, it is OK if one home varies from another.
In the article below, Susan Howard--the chair of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America--describes the essentials of Waldorf Early Childhood Education.
http://www.iaswece.org/waldorf_education/what_is.aspx
Among the many aspects of the article I like is that Howard is able to bring the words of Waldorf education's founder, Rudolf Steiner, to light in description of various elements (love and warmth, free play, working out of imitation, adults on a path of inner development) important to Waldorf early childhood education. She also cautions us as teachers (and I would add as parents) against doing something just because every other teacher (or parent) before has done it; if in our observation and meditations it does not seem like the right activity (or if other activities fulfill the same role), we need not do it just because everyone else has.
I remember being in teacher training and hearing teachers share some of the best practices from teachers they were working with. A lot of wonderful ideas and inspirations came pouring into the room. I also sensed dread and anxiety mounting in the room as new teachers wondered how they would fit every best practice into their rhythm of the day. If they did, the day would be so stressful and hurried, no one would be nourished. At that boiling brew of ideas, I began to focus on descriptions of what experienced teachers were not doing, of what it was OK not to do. I thought of a quote I had read as I was entering public early childhood education a few years before--"The most important thing is to know when to keep your mouth shut"--and postulated for myself a Waldorf phrase, "The most important thing is to know that you don't have to try to fit everything in." Over the years, I marvel at the amount of activities I have allowed to slip away as I find my path toward what is essential in early childhood. I have a long way to go.
Howard also touches upon our ongoing discussion of the balance between form and freedom, of the benefit of working of out of imitation and not explanation in the first seven years.
Finally, Susan Howard also makes clear that Waldorf education is not anything goes; our manner toward the children grows out of observation, presence, research, and meditation.
With warmth and light,
William Geoffrey Dolde
