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Teaching Packs based on the Waldorf Approach to Education All lessons are designed to appeal to the heart, head and hands Contact: Dr. David L. Mollet tel/fax (619) 463-1270 email: waldorfedu@cox.net 6656 Reservoir Lane, San Diego, CA 92115 |
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Welcome to David Mollet's HomePage - Waldorf Pedagogy I've been asked how Waldorf methodology
can be used in the public sector of education. I shall be dealing
with this in some depth later but would say the following.
Some background - when I was at university
I, like any other student, knew the importance of acknowledging sources.
Some years later as a Senior Lecturer of Education I had to make
sure my postgraduate students acknowledged, in their writings,
the sources they used.Why do I say this? So that the reader appreciates
that I am conversant with the correct procedures with regard to
acknowledging sources and have been for some 35 years. When I taught courses on Waldorf education I naturally acknowledged Steiner's descriptions of child development along with authors of other theories of child development. The descriptions I gave did not cover, or rarely covered, the different philosophies of the educationalists we studied. It was sufficient to acknowledge the person whose theories we were examining and to concentrate on their theories. Similarly, when writing lectures or articles it was, of course, necessary to acknowledge sources. Indeed it would have been unethical not to do so. My experiences teaching primary students in the dock area of thef East End of London had a considerable influence on the ways I viewed how a child develops. For example, I believed that we concentrated on cognitive development at the expense of the affective. I also believed that content and methodology should be appropriate for the mindset of the student. In many, many cases this was not occurring because we were hurrying the child through different phases and stages of development and in doing so were damaging certain patterns of growth. I saw, in Waldorf methodology and content, a different approach; an approach that attempted to develop the cognitive and affective in balance and harmony with each other. Students related very positively to some of these ideas and circumstances evolved to the point where I found myself in a unique position as far as taking the Waldorf approach into the public sector was concerned. Eventually it became clear that I was devoting my working life to it and I accepted that responsibility. When I started writing material it was natural and inevitable that one of the main, if not the main, source of my writings and material was Waldorf methodology. It would have been quite wrong for me not to acknowledge this. So I do not see a problem. Where is the problem? Problems only exist if I believe that I should refuse to acknowledge the basis for a great deal of my writing. As I never do that with any other educator whose ideas/methodology I use it would have been wrong of me not to acknowledge the influence of Waldorf methodology. The above is only a brief overview. Descriptions of the considerable influence that Waldorf methodology has had on my thinking occurs at appropriate times in the Waldorf Newsletter. |
