An Introduction to Steiner Education

The Waldorf School

Francis Edmunds

• Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN:
  9781855842717
• Print ISBN:
  9781855841727

"To educate youth... is to ennoble the mind, to fire the imagination, to fortify the will and to quicken initiative for life.' So writes Francis Edmunds in this inspiring, authoritative and popular introduction to Steiner (Waldorf) Education. Rudolf Steiner's educational system, well established and respected on the European continent, is gradually spreading internationally. Its radical principles, based on a view of the human being as composed of body, soul and spirit, allows for a truly holistic and balanced education that nourishes the whole child.The author explains in a clear, lively style many aspects of Steiner's educational theory, in particular the three stages of childhood development and how the Waldorf curriculum allows for a healthy understanding, nurturing and support of these phases. The role of the class teacher, the 'main lesson', temperaments, attitudes to discipline, competition and examinations are all discussed, and answers given based on the author's many years of rich and varied experience as an educator of both children and adults.This volume is an excellent introduction to the theory and practice of Steiner education, both for teachers or educationalists who would like to know more about Steiner's ideas, and for parents thinking of sending their child to a Waldorf school.

Table of contents

• Foreword by Martyn Rawson
• Introduction
• 1. The First Three Years of Childhood
• 2. The Pre-School Years
• 3. The Class-Teacher Years
• 4. The Eight-Year Class Teacher
• 5. About Temperaments
• 6. Adolescence
• 7. Waldorf Education Is It Still New?
• 8. Questions General and Particular
• 9. To Parents
• 10. The Form and Organization of a Waldorf School
• 11. The Range of Rudolf Steiner's Work for Children
• 12. The Waldorf School Movement
• 13. Waldorf Teacher Traning
• Notes
• Weblinks