Article 3. Growing an Educational Support Circle in a Waldorf School

During the "open mike" Saturday mornings, which I conduct on the second Saturday of the month, and which is aimed to connect Educational Support Teachers actively working in Waldorf Education, I am discovering some interesting facts and information…, which do reflect those of our colleagues in public schools sharing our same demographics. In general, the numbers of "different learners" is growing by leaps and bounds. We are reevaluating what "learning disability" really means and we are questioning teaching methods in a search to "meet the learning needs" of the children of today. From Howard Gardner's original thesis on the "Seven Intelligences", to John Ratey's "Four Theaters of the Brain", to Sally Springer's work on Left Brain Right Brain" and on and on and on… Individuality in Education… is on the rise.

So what do I mean by that later statement, and what is the ramification for an Educational Support Circle in a Waldorf School? In effect, the Waldorf Educator is challenged to learn of the current research on the "minds of learners" and to maintain and deepen ones understanding of the intrinsic value of the Waldorf Approach to educating the youth of Today. This is no small task, given that most class teachers, dedicated to the well-being of the children in their class, are engulfed in study of the curriculum, from both the aspect of "how to present it" and "why is it valuable to the soul of the child of the age my class is passing through". Those aspects alone, are daunting and challenging… then to have to have insatiable curiosity regarding the way they teach a subject and the effect of that approach on the various learning styles, modalities and intelligences of the individual learners in the classroom… whew! Tall order indeed!!

The Educational Support Circle of a Waldorf School carries three main pillars of work for the class teachers. One of these pillars is research. The full faculty study could be informed out of the work of the Educational Support Circle. Here, a comparison of the various ways of doing child study (fourfold, threefold, sevenfold or twelvefold) could be compared to some of the work of the above named authors as well as others. Whenever a member of this circle becomes informed regarding, for example, the Seven Intellegences, he/she could ask the question:"How is this reflected in the work of a Waldorf Educator?" Secondarily, "How will I help my colleagues see this and thus, be able to speak of this with the parents and wider community?"

Some of the educational theories, being worked with today, easily dovetail with tenets of Waldorf Education whilst others share a more obscure relationship. At heart, one can usually find a connection between the way a Waldorf Educator has been trained to work in Child Study and the way other professionals, especially educational researchers are looking at learning. This connection exists because, at heart, we are phenomenologists focusing on the human being… hence we are connected and are seeking to elucidate this connection whenever possible.

When I first looked at Howard Gardner's "Seven Intelligences", I wrote a modern fairy tale based on the need for seven brothers to come together for the common good of all. I asked myself, "where do the sister's work here?" and the answer came… they are the muses of the seven liberal arts… from there, I looked at Waldorf Education and saw a deep alignment and honoring of the intelligences. This kind of thinking is enlivening to the class teacher… this affirms that what they are doing is not only seen as valuable within the Waldorf School Movement, but that professionals outside this movement, and in other approaches to education, can more easily see the relevance to the Waldorf Approach to Education. Thus, a small faculty study on the connectedness of Gardner's theories and the Sevenfold approach to Child Study could be lively and fruitful.

The exploding field of Neuropsychology of Learning lends a helping hand to Waldorf Education at nearly every turn… we members of the Educational Support Circle, need to have an almost insatiable appetite for learning of the work of the supportive theories by Professors of Education or Psychology emerging today. My personal email has been full of links sent to me by my colleagues in Ed. Support Circles… evidence… the appetite is alive and well!! (See some references listed below.)

The second pillar of work of the Educational Support Circle is internal deepening of the paradigms of thought advanced through an Anthroposophical Understanding of Healing and incarnational struggles. This group can, so to speak, be the "graduate school group" of teacher training. Here, a study of, for example, constitutional types, temperaments, planetary types, organ function, the foundational senses and their relationship to the higher social senses, etc. can take place. This can be an enlivening activity for the participants… The understandings of Anthroposophical Medicine, Therapeutic Eurythmy, Chirophonetics, the Extra Lesson, Therapeutic Speech, Painting Therapy, Clay Therapy and other healing approaches can be deepened.

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