Alternative State school planning well under way

Press, 27 July 1989, Page 9

Alternative State school planning well under way

By

BETH NOAKES

If Joyce and David Mollet have their way, Christchurch will house the first Waldorf State school in the English speaking world. Waldorf schools are not new: the first opened in Stuttgart in 1919 when a benevolent factory owner asked philosopher and educator Rudolph Steiner to set up a school for the children of his employees. Steiner believed that education, rather than seeking to fill up children with facts, should feed their inner nature at all stages of their development, starting in the imaginative and creative realm, moving to action and practical expression, and finally to theoretical, intellectual aspects. So, a lesson about autumn might start with a story, move out into the fields to collect fallen leaves, continue with poems and collages, songs and dances. Waldorf children start geometry at six years old, drawing and colouring different shapes. At 10 they begin to use rulers and compasses, but without measurement; twelve-year-olds learn proofs and theorems by discovering facts about the shapes they have been drawing. Through fables and legends the children learn about humanity’s weaknesses and highest endeavours, and they look up to St Bridgi and St Francis rather than to Madonna and Michael Jackson. "We both started teaching down in the docks in the East End of London,” Joyce explains, "and it’s not the easiest place to start.” They tried Waldorf methods on these tough eight-year-olds and found that lessons became more of a co-operative effort, far less competitive and confrontational. They moved to the north of England, where David ran highly popular courses on Waldforf methods of teaching. "The students were flowing in. They wanted it and I knew I wanted to teach the stuff. I spent two years putting proposals together. Some were accepted; the vast majority were refused, because it was the time of all those cutbacks.” So Joyce and David moved to California, where David got a job lecturing on Waldorf

methods at San Diego University. But a combination of educational cutbacks there, and the realisation that perhaps California was not the best of places to bring up children, brought them to New Zealand. They worked, for a while, in the existing Rudolf Steiner school in Christchurch, but their interpretation of Steiner’s intentions differed considerably in a number of areas, and so they parted company with the school. They set up the Association for Waldorf Education (A.W.E.) and began to work towards starting a Waldorf school within the State system. West Germany and Holland have state Waldorf schools, but in the English speaking world they are privately funded.

“Which is not what Steiner orignally intended,” says David. “He said they should be model schools, yes, but he laid very great emphasis that the methods should go out — that other teachers should be able to use them.” So began three years of frustration. “We’ve found it easily the most closed, centralised, bureaucratic system we’ve come across. We thought England was bureaucratic — it’s nothing compared to New Zealand.” the administrators, though extremely open and friendly, seemed . powerless to make decisions. Then came the Picot report. One of Picot’s recommendations was that

any group of parents of at least 21 children who wanted a different sort of school should be able to negotiate with the ministry to start their own with state funding. David and Joyce expect this to be part of the new education act to become law soon: then, provided there are enough like-minded parents in Christchurch, David will start negotiations with the ministry. “From the information I’ve received, it would apepar the new ministry will be obliged to provide the facilities and teachers’ 1 ' salaries.” How much support have they got? The A.W.E. has j kept a low profile for the , last two years, because the bureaucrats told them . to wait for the Picot re- ( port — most of the re- ;

commendations of which will come into force on October 1. “I’ve no doubt the people are there,” says David. “It’s a question of making contact.” Two families from Queenstown have said they will move to Christchurch when the school becomes a reality. The school will cater for grades one to eight, then the children will go on to ordinary high schools, though with sufficient demand there is no reason why planning for a high school could not start too. Joyce cites some German research which found that Waldorf-edu-cated children did much better at the school-leav-ing exams than their contemporaries, even though they had not been educated in an exam-orien-tated system. The Mollets’ two children have been to Waldorf schools, but are now at a conventional Christchurch state school. They enjoy it there, says Joyce, but they miss the art. She indicates two very beautiful abstract paintings on the living room wall. “Our son was producing work like that when he was five or six.” In June David visited California and Hawaii. He met and gave presentations to many top educationists. He was fortunate to meet the person in charge of implementing the new history/social science framework for California. The new framework is very much in sympathy with the Waldorf approach. Joyce and David have been invited to make detailed submissions for the new framework which, if accepted, would be recommended to teachers in schools throughout California. David also gave presentations to educators at the University of Hawaii on his return journey, and has been invited back next year to teach courses on Waldorf education at the university. He enjoys his visits overseas, but hopes that eventually educators in the state system in New Zealand will also be interested in Waldorf education. Joyce and David Mollet are at 66 Beckford Road, Christchurch 2, telephone 326-799.