Welcome to Waldorf Education and the theoretical teachings of Rudolf Steiner! Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy, believed that the early years and child development are crucial for a child’s future growth and success. He emphasised the importance of nurturing a child’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs, and believed that a holistic approach to education was necessary. Steiner advocated for a child centred learning approach, where teachers need to understand each child’s needs, interests and abilities to provide an appropriate education. He believed that learning should be experiential, and children should learn through direct experience and experimentation, also emphasising the importance of practical and hands-on activities such as crafts, gardening and cooking to supplement academic learning. Within this class you'll deep dive into all these theoretical ideas and concepts, as well as, investigating some strategies and ideas that you can use to incorporate aspects of Steiner's ideas into your practice!
1. Understanding Waldorf Education
24:48To begin this class you'll delve into the concept of holistic development, the role of the practitioner through the eyes of Rudolf Steiner, how he viewed the different stages of child development over time and the concept of free play and real work. Lesson 1 is a pivotal step in gaining a real grounding in the ideas and educational principals of Rudolf Steiner.
2. Daily Rhythms & Repetitions
09:59This lesson is all about establishing daily ‘Rhythms and Repetition’ was an integral component of Steiner’s ideology as he believed it ‘protected the life forces of children’ by providing them with security and reassurance throughout the day. Your rhythms are the sequence or structure of your day or week, whereas your repetitions are certain events or routines that take place on a regular basis.
3. Developing 'The Heart' Through Positive Relationships
07:19Holistic learning for Rudolf Steiner was all about developing 'the hands, the heart & the head' not just an amalgamation of educational outcomes in one activity. In this lesson you'll be exploring the idea of developing 'the heart' through positive relationships and healthy attachments, as well as, the benefits that come from these healthy connections.
4. The Steiner Environment
12:47Creating aesthetically pleasing environments has become a huge trend across the Early Years community the past few years and this largely stems from the work of Steiner. Within this lesson you'll investigate why he emphasised the importance of creating environments that were homely and designed to be the opposite of a generic classroom and instead convey calm and relaxed spaces, enabling the children to settle faster and give their full concentrate to the task at hand.
5. Artistic Expression Within Early Years
07:05This lesson is all about incorporating an important Waldorf Principle of artistic expression within your early years curriculum and everyday activities. Artistic expression can be anything from clay modelling, mud play or even poetry as oral expression, fantasy play and rich language was just as important to Steiner as having the freedom to create physical art.
6. Outro: Rudolf Steiner's Approach To Early Years Development
04:08In this final lesson Ben discusses the benefits incorporating some of Rudolf Steiner's principles could have on your setting, as well as exploring ways in which his ideas still resinate a hundred years later within our modern world.
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