Download the article: From the Editor
The lead article in this issue addresses a concern of all committed Waldorf teachers, one that is painful and, at the same time, if faced unflinchingly, full of promise for creative breakthroughs; namely, the high potential for social conflict in Waldorf schools. The author, Dutch Waldorf educator, Christof Wiechert, is leader of the Pedagogical Section of the Anthroposophical Society. In his article, Christof Wiechert looks at the most common confusions that often lie behind conflict in the school, and points to what can be done to reverse them. In doing so, he brings out the rich resources also present in Waldorf education for teachers’ inner renewal and development and for their building together genuine, supportive community. It is an article that will lend itself to contemplation and discussion among schools everywhere.
If Christof Wiechert’s article looks at one form of assessment—self-assessment and renewal—the second article by Paul Zachos examines another form of assessment also of vital concern to Waldorf educators—the assessment of one’s own teaching and of student learning. At a time when pressures are being exerted from many sides to submit children to standardized, high-stakes testing in all schools and at every age level, the question of what kind of assessment is truly educational becomes critical. Yet it often remains unasked. Paul Zachos, in “Discovering the True Nature of Educational Assessment,” takes up this question directly and with concrete examples. He shows that it would be an error if, in rightly rejecting standardized testing, we were also to reject the task of assessment itself. All depends on distinguishing between assessment that is educational and assessment that is non-educational. Waldorf education, he argues, has resources for developing forms of assessment that truly support education, and in doing so, has the potential for a much-needed contribution to the wider world of education. He invites correspondence and discussion of his article, and we hope that readers will respond.
Peter Lang’s article, “The Kindergarten Child,” looks at the special developmental and educational needs of the preschool and kindergarten-aged child. He shows that preschool education has specific and crucial educational-developmental tasks to fulfill. The accomplishment of these tasks is seriously hindered by two, widely prevalent, albeit opposing, notions of preschool education: on the one hand, the view that academic subjects should be introduced into these early years, and, on the other hand, the idea that preschool and kindergarten classrooms are really only holding areas for children until the real educational work can begin in first grade. Peter Lang demonstrates the critically important educational and developmental principles involved in a genuinely Waldorf approach to the preschool years, principles that address the real needs of children. He offers a reminder to preschool and school teachers alike, as well as to administrators and parents, of just how important it is that these principles of early childhood education be recognized and supported. In a related vein, in “The Teaching of Science,” David Mitchell describes from his own experience how science can be taught to the young child in a way fully compatible with and supportive of the child’s own capacities and interests, and that, at the same time, lays the basis for a continuing and creative deepening in scientific understanding.
Alduino Mazzone takes up the problem pointed to by many knowledgeable observers that, while children require for their full and healthy development the experience of socially recognized “rites of passage,” we live at a time when such rites of passage are disappearing because the social basis for them is in disarray. Alduino Mazzone explores the many resources in Waldorf education, especially in the understanding it can draw upon of the evolution of consciousness, that provide meaningful rites of passage experiences for the growing young person.
All of these articles invite comment and discussion and we welcome readers’ responses.
In our current Correspondence section, Stephen Sagarin continues a conversation initiated by his article in the January 2003 issue.
We are also carrying in this issue a list of various studies that have been made of Waldorf education during the last thirty years or so. This is not a complete list and we hope to add to it in the future.