Alt Ed Report

8/6/2019 Alt Ed Report

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ESPOSO, Ma. Kristina Gay G. IV-13 BSE English 2

Semester I, 2011 - 2012

individual recitation. He focused on participatory activities that would cultivate

camaraderie and good relationship with other people.

He presented two purposes of education based on the individual level and

social level. On the individual level, educators should teach the child holistically.

On the social level, learners should learn for the general development of the

society. It means that the more educated the citizens, the more educated and

regenerated the whole society becomes.

For Pestalozzi, schools should be student-centered and not focused on its

curriculum. Instead, teachers should find ways to unfold the hidden talents present

in a student and nurture it. He, too, believed in the inductive method, whereas

students learn via observing their surroundings, correct their own mistakes and

analyze their inquiries. A child starts in a simple object and observations, then

alleviates to a much complex and abstract things.

c. F

riedrich Wilhelm AugustF

roeb

elPlay is the highest expression of human development in childhood, for it alone is

the free expression of what is in a child's soul.

- He is known to be the Father of Kindergarten because the developed thefirst kindergarten in Germany in 1837. For him, children need to have time to play

in order to learn. His idea was that through systematic play the children are able

to learn to discriminate, analyze, share and solve problems. Basically, learning

takes place through the manipulation of materials present and activities planned

for further learning of the children. Again, anchored in progressivism, his

teaching methods are that of learning through activity and social learning.

2. Schools Established/ Popular Methodsa. Kindergarten

- It was first developed by the German educator, Friedrich Froebel in 1837.It is composed of children aged three to seven years old. Essentially, it becomes

the first of the children towards developing their social skills without the

assistance of their parents. Children were given time to play in order for them to

learn.

It gained support from the National Education Association in 1872 and

became widely known and adopted outside Germany.

b. Montessori School- In 1907, Maria Montessori began asserting her theories and methods of

pedagogy, and in 1912 it became widely known. The teaching philosophy behind

it was that teachers should teach the children on HOW to do things first before


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they let them execute the task. It aims to facilitate a more human experience for

the students.

Like Kindergarten, the Montessori Method became popular and reached

many places as well.

c. Waldorf School/Education (Founded 1919)- It is a humanistic approach to pedagogy based on the Australian

philosopher Rudolf Steiners educational philosophy: Learning is

interdisciplinary, integrating practical, artistic and conceptual elements. Its goals

are to provide young people the basis on which to develop free, morally

responsible, and integrated individuals.

Its education structure is based on Steiners theories of child development

which is similar to Piagets theory. It is divided into three stages:

y Early Childhood learning is largely experiential, imitative andsensory-based and emphasizes learning through practical activities. Du

y Elementary School (7-14 years old) learning is artistic andimaginative, and is guided and stimulated by the creative authority of

the teacher; emphasizes emotional life and artistic expression across a

wide variety of performing and visual arts.

y Adolescence to meet the developing capacity for abstract thoughtand conceptual judgment; emphasis is on developing intellectual

understanding and ethical ideals such as social responsibility.

In a Waldorf school, preschoolers are discouraged to being exposed to

media because they believe these to be harmful to childrens development. Ontheir elementary education, learners are exposed to different kinds of arts that

would help them enhance their talents and express themselves. Lastly, on their

secondary education, students are provided with teachers specialized on a certain

field.

Waldorf schools seek to cultivate pupils sense of social responsibility,

respect and compassion, as well as incorporating multiple intelligences in their

curriculum.

d. Summerhill School- It is an independent British boarding school that was founded by

Alexander Sutherland Neill in 1912. It follows the principle of Neill which is

Freedom, not License. The said principle extends to giving freedom to pupils to

choose which lesson they would like to attend.

In this kind of school, students can participate in governing the school

community and have the equal voice in arriving at a decision that which could


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affect their day-to-day lives. In here, learners are not pressured to conform to

adult ideas of growing up.

e. Reggio Emilia- Established during 1945, this approach mainly believes in learning

through interaction with others, including parents, staff and peers in a friendly

learning environment. It views the parents as an important source of their childs

learning.

In this method, learners are viewed as unique individual and have potential

different from the others. Also, teachers main role in the pupils learning are to

observe and document whatever output they have. The4 environment contributes

a lot, too, to the childrens learning because using the materials available around

them, they will manipulate it to represent the concepts they have learned.

f.

Small School- This kind of school started around the 1980s with the belief that schools

are community-based and holistic, nurturing the childrens spiritual life as well as

the mind. The main idea behind small school is to have every students know one

another and develop an atmosphere that is very much like an extended family.

Aside from a high upholding of friendship, learners are also taught to be

autonomous, outgoing and articulate, and capable of voicing an opinion.

REFERENCES

Brezinski, D.M. PhD. Alternative Education. Retrieved on June 21, 2011 from

http://www.sacredlivingtraditions.com/soulful-patterns/alternative-education/

Clark, D. Jean Jacques Rousseau. Retrieved on June 26, 2011 from

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/history/rousseau.html

Clark. D. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Retrieved on June 26, 2011 from

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/history/pestalozzi.html

Garrett, R. What is Reggio Emilia? Retrieved on June 25, 2011 from

http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Reggio_Emilia/

Loh, A. Reggio Emilia Approach. Retrieved on June 25, 2011 from http://www.brainy-

child.com/article/reggioemilia.shtml

Miller, R. A Brief History of Alternative Education. Retrieved on June 21, 2011 from

http://www.educationrevolution.org/history.html


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Sharp, A.S.R. The History of Kindergarten. Retrieved on june 25, 2011 from

http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/kindergarten.html

_________. A.S. Neills Summerhill School. Retrieved on June 26, 2011 from

http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk/pages/index_continued.html

_________. Friedrich Froebel and Informal Education. Retrieved on June 26, 2011

from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-froeb.htm

_________. Friedrich Frbel. Retrieved on June 26, 2011 from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Fr%C3%B6bel#Legacy

_________. Summerhill School. Retrieved on June 26, 2011 from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summerhill_School

________. Waldorf Education. Retrieved on June 26, 2011 from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_education#Pedagogy_and_theory_of_child_development


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APPENDICES

A Brief History of Alternative Education by Ron Miller

Why are there "alternative" schools? Our system of public schooling was first organized in the 1830's to provide a common,

culturally unifying educational experience for all children, yet from the very beginning, certain groups of educators,

parents, and students themselves have declined to participate in this system. Their reasons are various, and the forms of

schooling--and nonschooling--that they have chosen instead are equally diverse. The history of alternative education is acolorful story of social reformers and individualists, religious believers and romantics; despite their differences, however,

they share an especially strong interest in young people's social, moral, emotional and intellectual development, and, more

deliberately than most public school programs, they have practiced educational approaches that aim primarily to nourish

these qualities.

Historians of public education have described how, during the period between 1837 (when Horace Mann became the first

powerful leader of a state education agency) and the early twentieth century (when new scientific theories were applied to

psychology, learning, and organizational management), a particularly narrow model of schooling became solidly

established as the "one best system" of public education. According to this model, the purpose of schooling was to

overcome cultural diversity and personal uniqueness in order to mold a loyal citizenry and an effective workforce for the

growing industrial system. Education aimed primarily to discipline the developing energies of young people for the sake

of political and social uniformity as well as the success of the emerging corporate economy. In the early twentieth century,

these goals were concisely expressed by the term "social efficiency," which was often used by educational leaders.Many people are attracted to alternative schools and home education because they feel that this agenda of "social

efficiency" does not allow for such values as individuality, creativity, democratic community life and spiritual

development. Indeed, Horace Mann's efforts to centralize public schooling were opposed from the start by religious

leaders and other critics who argued that education is a community, family, and personal endeavor, not a political program

to be mandated by the state. For example, many of the Transcendentalist thinkers of the mid-nineteenth century-Emerson,

Thoreau, Alcott, Brownson, Ripley--argued against the rigidity of public schooling and several of them started their own

alternative schools. The Temple School in Boston, run by Bronson Alcott between 1834 and 1838 (with his daughter

Louisa May as one of the students), is an outstanding historical model of alternative education; Alcott rejected the teaching

methods of his time (rote memorization and recitation) and encouraged Socratic dialogue, with a deeply moral and

spiritual emphasis.

The roots of many twentieth century alternative school movements go back to three European philosopher/educators: Jean-

Jacques Rousseau, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, and Friedrich Froebel. In his 1762 book Emile, Rousseau argued thateducation should follow the child's natural growth rather than the demands of society, which, he claimed, tend to thwart all

that is organic, natural and spiritual. This emphasis on the innate development of human nature became the primary

philosophical basis for many alternative movements in education. It has influenced progressive educators as well as

generations of libertarian thinkers. In the early 1800's, the Swiss humanitarian Pestalozzi opened schools for orphans,

adopting Rousseau's principles. His work inspired educators in Europe and America (including Alcott). One of his

disciples, Joseph Neef, emigrated to the U.S. and founded child-centered schools in three states between 1809 and 1827.

Froebel was another teacher at Pestalozzi's school, and later became famous as the founder of the kindergarten concept; it

is not well known that Froebel envisioned all levels of schooling as being nourishing "gardens" for children's spontaneous

development.

This philosophical tradition strongly influenced Francis Parker, who, with John Dewey, originated the progressive

education movement late in the nineteenth century. A public school superintendent, head of a teacher education program,

and popular speaker and author, Parker believed that education should serve the needs of children and conform to their

styles of thinking and learning. Although Parker himself (and many subsequent progressive educators) tried to reform the

"one best system" from within, his influence spread to many alternative schools during the first two decades of this

century, such as those associated with progressive educators like Margaret Naumberg, Helen Parkhurst, and Caroline Pratt,

among many others.

At the same time, two European educational pioneers designed alternative methods with roots going back to Rousseau,

Pestalozzi and Froebel. Maria Montessori was an Italian pediatrician/psychiatrist who studied child development with a

meticulous scientific eye as well as a deep religious faith in the divine essence of the human being. She opened her first

"children's home" in 1907. Rudolf Steiner was an Austrian philosopher/mystic who developed a spiritual science called


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Anthroposophy that he applied to the fields of medicine, agriculture, architecture, and the arts, as well as education. He

founded the first Waldorf school in 1919. Both of these methods have evolved into important international movements for

educational change.

It was during the 1960's that alternative education grew into a widespread social movement. During this decade, of course,

countercultural themes that had always been marginal and virtually invisible--racial justice, pacifism, feminism, and

opposition to corporate capitalism--exploded into public view. Mass demonstrations, alternative lifestyles and

publications, and the urban riots and assassinations of that period led to a deep examination of modern society andinstitutions. Educators and other writers--including Paul Goodman, John Holt, Jonathan Kozol, Herbert Kohl, George

Dennison, James Herndon and Ivan Illich--launched passionate attacks against the "one best system" and its agenda of

social efficiency. The period between 1967 and 1972, especially, was a time of crisis for public education, when student

demonstrations, teacher strikes, and a deep questioning of traditional assumptions shook the system to its core. In these

few years alone, over 500 "free schools"--nonpublic schools based on countercultural if not revolutionary ideas--were

founded. Open classrooms and magnet schools (public schools of choice) were introduced. And the spirit of Rousseau,

Pestalozzi and Froebel began to seep into academic and professional circles, leading, by the end of the 1970's, to

approaches that came to be called "humanistic" and "holistic" education.

The counterculture did not prevail; over the past twenty years, traditional values have been strongly reasserted in politics

and in education. The 1983 report by President Reagan's Commission on Excellence in Education, A Nation at Risk, was a

powerful statement of the traditional goals of American public schooling--social efficiency and economic growth--and it

led to a tidal wave of political grandstanding, legislative mandates, and frantic "restructuring" mainly intended to producebetter disciplined citizens and workers for a competitive global economy. George Bush's "America 2000" agenda became

Bill Clinton's "Goals 2000" program--now enacted into law--which continued this top-down movement to harness the

young generation's energies to the needs of the corporate economy. Those who worked for progressive, child-centered, or

humanistic education within the system during the heyday of the counterculture have found little support for their vision in

recent years, and many have turned to alternative settings.

Within the public system there are now many alternative programs for students "at risk" of dropping out because they are

so completely alienated by the impersonal routines of conventional schooling. And there are still significant pockets of

progressive educators and related groups--such as those promoting whole language and cooperative learning--who remain

determined to infuse public education with more democratic, humanistic purposes. But despite these oases of student-

centered learning, the educational climate during the past decade has been affected by ever tighter state and federal control

over learning, leading to still further testing, politically mandated "outcomes," and national standards. There is some hopein the relatively new concept of "charter schools," which allow parents and innovative educators to receive public funding

with less bureaucratic intervention, although it remains to be seen how much freedom such schools will be allowed if

national standards begin to be enforced.

As government school systems become increasingly yoked to the purposes of the corporate economy, it is likely that

thousands more families and educators will turn to the more democratic and person-centered values represented by

alternative schools and home education. For the past century and half, alternative schools have been isolated

countercultural enclaves with little influence on mainstream educational thinking and policy. But in the "postindustrial" or

"postmodern" era that appears to be emerging now, the industrial-age model of "social efficiency" is possibly starting to

become obsolete.

Perhaps, as Ivan Illich envisioned in his 1970 book Deschooling Society and James Moffett describes in his recent book

The Universal Schoolhouse, the idea of a public school system may have outlived its usefulness. According to these and

other authors, in a democratic, information-rich society, learning should take place everywhere in the community, and

young people should have access to mentors who nourish their diverse personal interests and styles of learning. We have a

long way to go before this sort of system is in place, but if our society does in fact move in this direction, it may well be

alternative educators who show the way.

(Retrieved from http://www.educationrevolution.org/history.html)

Alternative Education by Dr. Daria M. Brezinski, Phd

The Small Schools of Europe started around the 1980s, like the one in Hartford, England, which is modeled

after, the family, not the factory. The schools are community based and holistic, nurturing the childrens spiritual life as

well as the mind. Small classes are maintained so that teachers can actually devote their time to teaching instead of crowd


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teachers to observe student activity for one year. What the teacher learns by observation is the innate gifts and talents

children posses and left to their own natural behaviors, children display qualities of lessons to teach. In observation, the

teacher develops a perspective of the essence of each child. For example, children eating lunch will readily exchange and

share food with others. When a younger child spilled something, other children would assist in the cleanup. This is the

reference, the known and familiar, where the teachers lesson on sharing and/or room cleanliness would begin. In

traditional classrooms, often lessons are so abstract that children have no point of reference to recognize. The mind in need

of relevant interconnections cannot create abstract thinking unless it is part of a known experience. Adults teach abstracttheories without a foundation in a childs reality of experience. Observations catalogued in journals are compiled,

compared and formulated for teacher reference.

The miracle of Montessoris Italian children was that, they had shown the strange powers of the mind while it

is still sensitive and absorbent, still in partly an unconscious state before it comes completely under the domination of

consciousness and reason, of established habits and prejudices; under the right conditions, children will have a natural

spontaneous goodness and love, a natural desire to learn and work.

Waldorf Schools

Rudolf Steiner said that the aim of education was not to make all schools into Waldorf Schools but to create a

new impulse in education at large so that the Waldorf schools would no longer be necessary. Waldorf graduates have

stimulated the growth of New Age and/or holistic belief systems. Steiner believed that freedom and unpossessive love

are the two practices to be developed by all human beings. His work is holistic methodologies and insights into specific

educational practices. This theory maintains that there is a common archetypical ground for art, music, science andreligion. The whole is found in every part and the part in every whole. Life is to be experienced as art is experienced- inner

experiences expressed through the senses.

Steiner believed that if we want to come to an understanding of a living educational form, it must be approached

from a variety of perspectives and at more then one level at a time. The movement of the mind is fluid, full of currents and

intersections. To ask for consistency from life would be to misunderstand its form. It is ever changing. The science of the

interior being is called anthroposophy or the knowledge of man. It is a science that integrates the inner and outer worlds.

A medical model has been founded based on these principles of anthroposophy.

Human beings are a part of a common physical-spiritual linkage. In order to know ourselves, we must turn the

world of perception inside out. Inner development of the child must accompany physical sensory development. This inner

development is the education of soul qualities, spiritual qualities, ego strength, differentiation, will, thinking, feeling and

breathing.

In the original Steiner schools, teachers and students were nourished and replenished through learning for thesake of learning. The curriculum places heavy emphasis on the writings of Goethe, the study of Theosophy and the

experience of the cosmic Christ whose union with the earth marked the turning point of time. Nature and art are

fundamentals in this system. Children create their own textbooks with drawings that are full of pastels and light colors.

Music and drama are also integral to learning as well as eurhythmy, a movement exercise.

Steiner believed that there was a definite progression of intelligence. Learning is organic. At each age or stage,

certain qualities of the individual manifest and need to be nurtured. Young children are exposed to soft handmade toys

such as stuffed creatures and elves and gnomes. Square, sharply angled blocks are replaced with less manufactured forms

like strips of cloth, unspun wool fleece and outdoor trees, branches, earth and stones. In comparison to standard schools,

classroom objects are very, very simple so as to enable the childs imagination to develop.

There is a main lesson designed to present a subject in wide scope and depth continued each day and for a

number of weeks. This establishes coherency with the subject matter. The block method is in contrast to the public

school timetable and lasts one to one and a half hours. In the afternoons children do gardening, arts and crafts, eurhythmy

and gymnastics and in higher grades more practical work. Although this sounds similar to public curriculums, the

atmosphere is very different. There is a feeling of lightness with the lessons both from the perspective of using pastels, on

the walls and throughout the schools and from the central core of acknowledging the inherent goodness and movement of

youths.

Whatever subject is being presented, it is presented by the teacher devoid of textbook. Children create their own

texts. The artwork of Waldorf youths is demonstrates a freedom of expression uncommon to most children of similar age.

Art is an integral part of the curriculum at all times because it is the soul expressing itself. (Graffiti is not a problem in


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Financial, material, scholastic support was distributed among all members as well as the wood for the fire, furnishings and

texts. The community decided what was best for the children.

One-room public community schools were varied in form and design. However, there were also private schools

held in plantation houses and on large estates. Youths in these schools viewed education very differently. Since recorded

history began, the nobility always received the best education of the day whether in Europe, Asia or the Americas, most

often males. To become a gentleman or lady was a revered commodity for transferring information, culture and customs

from one generation to the next. To have a well bred, educated son or daughter was a measure of wealth, respect andhonor.

Children progressed by ability rather than by age. Instead of subjecting the entire class to review math problems, for

example, year after year, a child was able to glean from overhearing repetitive lessons taught to younger students pertinent

pieces of information for continuity, repetition and continuous flow of whole perspective.

Children were grouped by community rather than by age, grade, physical or learning disability without the added

expense of special tutors or specialists.

It was the childs responsibility to learn no one else.

School was perceived as a privilege although legislated a right. Children attended school only after doing

morning chores, community service or tending the fields in the wee hours of the morning.

The sense of community extended itself to having the school as the heart of the community.

Children assisted each other in supportive relationships rather than competition, siblings supporting each other.

The McGuffy Reader of the late 1800s stressed the development of characters, morals and values in stories. Theinherent theme was We-Us rather than the values of today, which are Me-I as well as character not personality.

Teachers had high expectations of students and the burden of proof was left to the children not the teacher.

Readers were challenging, stimulating and relevant to daily life.

Labeling of children was nonexistent, assisting each other, especially the young was expected.

Women were unable to be teachers if married because it was felt that the community benefited from mothers at

home. And mothers at home were considered unfit for being with children all day and night.

Generations lived within the same household, sometimes up to four, thus bridging the gap between cradle to

rocker.

Superior quality of work was more important than the quantity of information memorized

TODAYS EDUCATION

Who can define a good education? Is the purpose of learning, as in school, for the socializing effect, for the

success factor, becoming proficient at test taking, career placement or something else? If history is any indicator at all,some of the most knowledgeable, successful and functional human beings were uneducated by todays standards. An

infamous football coach Vince Lombardy said it best when he sought to hire only PhDs- Passionate, Hungry and

Determined people. Self-motivation, self-fulfillment, drive, passion and embracing life are more apt to measure success

than any subjects studied in school. And these skills, although most probably directly unteachable, can be cultivated,

nurtured and guided to fruition. The process of learning in the West has become so alien to life, so diluted and devoid of

meaning and tangible experiences and more theoretical by design, ( as well as more politically, economically and socially

insane), that real-life and real-learning has become a myth.

Some major factors that deprive the process are rooted in a fear pervasive environment that inhibits:

The ability to question without retribution (authorities, experts, peers)

The need to fully explore (kinesthetically, mentally, emotionally, physically)

The longing to feel secure and safe

The joy to revel in ones own creativity, intelligence and innovation (instead of those of the past)

The capacity to honor soft skills (compassion, intuition, integrity, honesty, commitment, service to others, respect) equal

to hard skills (physical prowess, intellectual capacity),

The sense of belonging instead of separate, isolated and alone,

The introduction to knowledge, skills and experiences at a moment when the organism is incapable of filtering, ordering

and assimilating the data with over stimulating the neurology instead.

Although Maslow defined the most obvious human needs, some are so intangible that means of measurement are

impossible to standardize. Why is there a national fetish to measure learning in such a manner (except to justify billions of

dollars into a system that is irrelevant, archaic, inept and crumbling?) IF education is the measure of learning and


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socialization, how can a tool of measurement be devised to define when one becomes an adult morally, ethically,

emotionally, socially or even intellectually? Tools of measurement are arbitrary, inaccurate, narrow and change with the

times. The time for national dialogue and the dissolution of the educational infrastructure is imminent because education

is no longer relevant to modern learning.

(Retrieved from http://www.sacredlivingtraditions.com/soulful-patterns/alternative-education/)

Pestalozzi was a Romantic who felt that education must be radically personal, appealing to each learner's intuition. He

emphasized that every aspect of the child's life contributed to the formation of personality, character, and reason. He

learned by operating schools at Neuhof and Yverdon. The success of the Yverdon school attracted the interest of European

and American educators. Pestalozzi's educational methods were child-centered and based on individual differences, sense

perception, and the student's self-activity. Pestalozzi worked in Yverdon to 'elementarize' the teaching of ancient

languages, principally Latin, but also Hebrew and Greek. In 1819, Stephan Ludwig Roth came to study with Pestalozzi,

and his new humanism contributed to the development of the method of language teaching, including considerations such

as the function of the mother tongue in the teaching of ancient languages. Pestalozzi was an important influence on the

theory of physical education; he developed a regimen of physical exercise and outdoor activity linked to general, moral,

and intellectual education that reflected his ideal of harmony and human autonomy.[3]

Pestalozzi's philosophy of education was based on a four-sphere concept of life and the premise that human nature was

essentially good. The first three 'exterior' spheres - home and family, vocational and individual self-determination, and

state and nation - recognized the family, the utility of individuality, and the applicability of the parent-child relationship to

society as a whole in the development of a child's character, attitude toward learning, and sense of duty. The last 'exterior'sphere - inner sense - posited that education, having provided a means of satisfying one's basic needs, results in inner

peace and a keen belief in God.[4]

In the late 1700's, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, a Swiss educational reformer, put Rousseau's theories into practice and thus

he became the first applied educational psychologist. Pestalozzi believed that thought began with sensation and that

teaching should use the senses. Theorizing that children should study the objects in their natural environment, Pestalozzi

developed a so-called object lesson that involved exercises in learning form, number, and language. Pupils determined

and traced an object's form, counted objects, and named them. Students progressed from these lessons to exercises in

drawing, writing, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and reading.

Pestalozzi employed the following principles in teaching (viewed as correct even today):

Begin with the concrete object before introducing abstract concepts

Begin with the immediate environment before dealing with what is distant and remote

begin with easy exercises or activities before introducing complex ones Always proceed gradually, cumulatively, and slowly

Pestalozzi's theories laid the groundwork for modern elementary education. He stressed the individuality of the child and

the necessity for teachers to be taught how to develop rather than to try to implant knowledge. In time, his ideas influenced

the elementary school systems of the Western world, particularly in the area of teacher training. (Retrieved from

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/history/pestalozzi.html)

Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel (Frbel) (1782 - 1852). Friedrich Froebel, the German educationalist, is best known as

the originator of the 'kindergarten system'. By all accounts he had a difficult childhood. His mother died when he was a

baby, and his father, a pastor, left him to his own devices. He grew up, it is said, with a love for nature and with a strong

Christian faith and this was central to his thinking as an educationalist. He saw, and sought to encourage, unity in all

things.

The purpose of education is to encourage and guide man as a conscious, thinking and perceiving being in such a way that

he becomes a pure and perfect representation of that divine inner law through his own personal choice; education mustshow him the ways and meanings of attaining that goal. (Friedrich Froebel 1826 Die Nenschenerziehung, pp. 2)

He came into teaching via a school run along Pestalozzian lines (and spent time at Yverdon). Friedrich Froebel's enduring

significance was through his formulation of the 'kindergarten system' with its emphasis on play and its use of 'gifts' (play

materials) and 'occupations (activities).

Friedrich Froebel believed that humans are essentially productive and creative - and fulfilment comes through developing

these in harmony with God and the world. As a result, Froebel sought to encourage the creation of educational

environments that involved practical work and the direct use of materials. Through engaging with the world,

understanding unfolds. Hence the significance of play - it is both a creative activity and through it children become aware


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of their place in the world. He went on to develop special materials (such as shaped wooden bricks and balls - gifts), a

series of recommended activities (occupations) and movement activities, and an linking set of theories. His original

concern was the teaching of young children through educational games in the family. In the later years of his life this

became linked with a demand for the provision of special centres for the care and development of children outside the

home.

Froebel's abiding influence has come in part from the efforts of followers such as Bertha von Marenholtz-Blow and the

thinkers such as Diesterweg. We have seen the development of kindergartens, and the emergence of a Froebel movement.For informal educators, Friedrich Froebel's continuing relevance has lain in his concern for learning through activity, his

interest in social learning and his emphasis on the 'unification 'of life. (Retrieved from

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-froeb.htm)

ROUSSEAU

The basic philosophy of education that Rousseau advocates in the Emile, much like his thought in the first two Discourses,

is rooted in the notion that human beings are good by nature. The Emile is a large work, which is divided into five Books,

and Book One opens with Rousseaus claim that the goal of education should be to cultivate our natural tendencies. This is

not to be confused with Rousseaus praise of the pure state of nature in the Second Discourse. Rousseau is very clear that a

return the state of nature once human beings have become civilized is not possible. Therefore, we should not seek to be

noble savages in the literal sense, with no language, no social ties, and an underdeveloped faculty of reason. Rather,

Rousseau says, someone who has been properly educated will be engaged in society, but relate to his or her fellow citizensin a natural way.

At first glance, this may seem paradoxical: If human beings are not social by nature, how can one properly speak of more

or less natural ways of socializing with others? The best answer to this question requires an explanation of what Rousseau

calls the two forms of self-love: amour-propre and amour de soi. Amour de soi is a natural form of self-love in that it does

not depend on others. Rousseau claims that by our nature, each of us has this natural feeling of love toward ourselves. By

contrast, amour-propre is an unnatural self-love and is a negative product of the socialization process. Unlike amour de

soi, amour-propre is a love of self that depends on comparing oneself with others. Essentially it consists in someone basing

his or her self-worth on a perceived superiority to another. It breeds contempt, hostility, and frivolous competition. In fact,

it is precisely these negative consequences that are under attack in the Discourse on the Sciences and Arts.

Rousseaus philosophy of education, therefore, is not geared simply at particular techniques that best ensure that the pupil

will absorb information and concepts. It is better understood as a way of ensuring that the pupils character be developed

in such a way as to have a healthy sense of self-worth and morality. This will allow the pupil to be virtuous even in theunnatural and imperfect society in which he lives. The character of Emile begins learning important moral lessons from his

infancy, thorough childhood, and into early adulthood. His education relies on the tutors constant supervision. The tutor

must even manipulate the environment in order to teach sometimes difficult moral lessons about humility, chastity, and

honesty. http://www.iep.utm.edu/rousseau/#SH5b

While John Locke developed a theory of testing for the validity of knowledge and John Comenius established that children

learn better from experience, Jean Jacques Rousseau, who supported these educational approaches, wrote the influential

Emile (1762). Rousseau expounded a new theory of education emphasizing the importance of expression rather than

repression to produce a well-balanced, freethinking child. He explained his views on the benefits of health and physical

exercise, and the belief that knowledge acquisition occurs though experience and that reason and investigation should

replace arbitrary authority. He also proposed that education should follow natural inclination impulses and feelings

(similar to learning styles). (Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/history/rousseau.html)

MARIA MONTESSORIIn 1897 Montessori had a revelation. "I felt that mental deficiency presented chiefly a pedagogical, rather than mainly a

medical, problem." The children she was working with could not be treated in the hospitals they needed to be trained in

schools. Given her new insight she began to transfer her time towards perfecting education. She wanted to use nature in

the school in order to meet the real needs of children. (The Montessori Method, 1912)

She developed an educational theory, which combined ideas of scholar Froebel, anthropologist Giuseooe Sergi, French

physicians, Jean Itard and Edouard Seguin, with methods that she had found in medicine, education, and anthropology. In

1900 she began to direct a small school in Rome for 'challenged' youth. The methods she employed were both

experimental and miraculous. "We should really find the way to teach the child how, before, before making him execute a


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task." She suggested that teachers see themselves as social engineers, she enhanced the scientific qualities of education.

(The Montessori Method)

In March of 1898, Montessori's only child, a son, Mario Montessori, was born. Sometime earlier, she had had a love affair

with her colleague, Dr. Montesano. Together, they made a deal to keep the relationship, and therefore the father's identity,

a secret. In exchange for the secrete neither of them agreed to ever marry another person. Montesano, however, fell in love

with and married, while still working with Montessori in daily contact. It was the betrayal of this promise that prompted

her to leave the Orthophrenic School. Her son was then sent to a wet nurse and later to a boarding school.It was then in 1907 that Montessori began to assert her theories and methods of pedagogy. She began by directing a

system of daycare centers for working class children in one of Rome's worst neighborhoods.

The children entered her program as "wild and unruly". Much to her surprise they began to respond to her teaching

methods. She always held them in the highest regard and taught her teachers to do likewise. From the beginning amazing

things happened. Children younger than three and four years old began to read, write, and initiate self-respect. The

Montessori method encouraged what Maria saw as the children's innate ability to 'absorb' culture. 3...And then we saw

them 'absorb' far more than reading and writhing...it was botany, zoology, mathematics, geography, and all with the same

ease, spontaneously, and with out getting tired." (The Absorbent Mind)

Her Curriculum

Although her methods were criticized for being too detached, rigorous, and even harsh for the youth, they did seem to

facilitate a more genuine, natural experience. She was often heard saying, "I studied my children, and they taught me how

to teach them." This may seem common for us to do today, but Montessori was the first to view education in this manner.She pioneered other attributes of what seems to be modern education today.

A system of Math learning materials for very young children was developed which allowed four and five year olds to

explore their interests where otherwise told they were too young. Montessori was also the first in education to have child-

sized tables and chairs made for the students. She believed that the learning environment was just as important as the

learning itself. Because of this belief her schools were often peaceful, orderly places, were the children valued their space

for concentration and the process of learning.

It was uncommon to treat children with such a high level of respect. Back then society felt that children should be seen and

not heard. "To deny them (the children) the right to learn because we, as adults think that they shouldn1t is illogical and

typical of the way schools have been run," she said at one time. Her methods completely contradicted the educational

theories and practice popular during her day. On one occasion,

"SI decided to give the children a slightly humorous lesson on how to blow their noses. After I had shown them different

ways to use a handkerchief, I ended by indicating how it could be done as unobtrusively as possible. I took out myhandkerchief in such a way that they could hardly see it and blew my nose as softly as I could. The children watched me in

rapt attention, but failed to laugh. I wondered why, but I had hardly finished my demonstration when they broke out into

applause that resembled a long repressed ovation in a theater. When I was on the point of leaving the school, the children

began to shout, 'Thank you, thank you for the lesson!'"

Adults were often reprimanding kids about their running noses, but never talking the time to teach them how to

independently take care. It's as if Montessori knew that they dealt with this situation, and wanted to facilitate a more

human experience for the students. On another occasion, one of her teachers was late and the students actually crawled

through the window and got right to work. Montessori also created the "game of silence," somewhat like meditation,

where each child was able to start the day with a sense of peace and focus. After just a few times trying the game, they

liked it.

During the remaining years of her life, from about 1907 to the mid-1930's, Dr. Montessori devoted all of her time and

energy to developing schools throughout Europe and North America. She then traveled to India and Sri Lanka, until 1947,

where she trained thousands of teachers the Montessori curriculum and methodology.

(Retrieved fromhttp://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/montessori.html#school)

Summerhill School is an independent British boarding school that was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill

with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other way around. It is run as a democratic

community; the running of the school is conducted in the school meetings, which anyone, staff or pupil, may attend, and at

which everyone has an equal vote. These meetings serve as both a legislative and judicial body. Members of the

community are free to do as they please, so long as their actions do not cause any harm to others, according to Neill's

principle "Freedom, not Licence." This extends to the freedom for pupils to choose which lessons, if any, they


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attend.Historically, the school has been at best tolerated by the British Government, although a recent positive inspection

report may indicate that the relationship is now improving.[

History

Summerhill School was founded in 1921 in Hellerau near Dresden, Germany by Neill as part of Neue Schule ("New

School"). However, Neill was dissatisfied with Neue Schule's ethos, and so moved to Sonntagberg in Austria. Due to the

hostility of the local people, it moved again in 1923 to Lyme Regis in England. The house in Lyme Regis was called

Summerhill, and this became the name of the school. In 1927 it moved to its present site in Leiston, Suffolk, England. Ithad to move again temporarily to Ffestiniog, Wales, during World War II so that the site could be used as a British Army

training camp.[2]

After Neill died in 1973 it was run by his wife, Ena, until 1985.[2] Today it is a boarding and day school serving primary

and secondary education in a democratic fashion. It is now run by Neill's daughter, Zoe Neill Readhead.[3] Although the

school's founding could arguably be dated to other years, the school itself marks 1921 as the year of its establishment.[2]

Philosophy

Summerhill is noted for its philosophy that children learn best with freedom from coercion. All lessons are optional, and

pupils are free to choose what to do with their time. Neill founded Summerhill with the belief that "the function of a child

is to live his own life not the life that his anxious parents think he should live, not a life according to the purpose of an

educator who thinks he knows best."[4][5]

In addition to taking control of their own time, pupils can participate in the self-governing community of the school.

School meetings are held three times a week, where pupils and staff alike have an equal voice in the decisions that affecttheir day-to-day lives, discussing issues and creating or changing school laws. The rules agreed at these meetings are wide

ranging - from agreeing on acceptable bed times to making nudity allowed around the pool and within the classroom.

Meetings are also an opportunity for the community to vote on a course of action for unresolved conflicts, such as a fine

for a theft (usually the fine consists of having to pay back the amount stolen).

In creating its laws and dealing out sanctions, the school meeting generally applies A.S. Neill's maxim "Freedom not

Licence" (he wrote a book of the same name); the principle that you can do as you please, so long as it doesn't cause harm

to others. Hence, you are free to swear as much as you like, within the school grounds, but calling someone else an

offensive name is license.

It is upon these major principles, namely, democracy, equality and freedom that Summerhill School operates. (Retrieved

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summerhill_School)

Introduction to Summerhill

All crimes, all hatreds, all wars can be reduced to unhappiness wrote A. S. Neill, founder of Summerhill School.Today, all over the world, education is moving towards more and more testing, more examinations and more

qualifications. It seems to be a modern trend that assessment and qualification define education.

If society were to treat any other group of people the way it treats its children, it would be considered a violation of human

rights. But for most of the world's children this is the normal expectation from parents, school and the society in which we

live.

Today many educationalists and families are becoming uneasy with this restrictive environment. They are beginning to

look for alternative answers to mainstream schooling.

One of these answers is democratic or free' schooling. There are many models of democratic schools in all corners of the

globe, from Israel to Japan, from New Zealand and Thailand to the United States.

The oldest and most famous of these schools is Summerhill, on the east coast of England.

Summerhill School is one of the most famous schools in the world, and has influenced educational practice in many

schools and universities. The democratic schools movement is now blossoming internationally, with many schools far andwide being based upon the philosophy of A. S. Neill or inspired by reading his books.

As well as the structured timetable, there is free access to art, woodwork and computers. There are also open areas where

kids not in classes can hang out, amuse themselves, socialise, play games, be creative etc. Adults are not there to create

things for the children to do- they need to create things for themselves. So sports, games and other amusements are all

generated by the pupils and adults, according to need.

The staff meet daily to discuss any problems or concerns. A Special Attention List monitors new children, and those who

may have problems with lessons. Staff will consider various actions that will assist the child in learning. For example, if a

child is nervous of the classroom, one-to-one lessons can be offered. This is the case for fast or slow learners. Pupils can


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take exams early if they wish and most pupils take some GCSEs before they leave, but of course, some prefer not to take

any at all.

The important freedom at Summerhill is the right to play. All lessons are optional. There is no pressure to conform to adult

ideas of growing up, though the community itself has expectation of reasonable conduct from individual. Bullying,

vandalism or other anti-social behaviour is dealt with by specially elected ombudsmen, or by the whole community in its

daily meetings.

The school is set in twelve acres of garden and woodland with plenty of space for cycling, hut building, tree climbing,bonfires, camping, imaginative games. There is a swimming pool for use in the summer time, a tennis court, playing field,

basketball area as well as table tennis indoors.

During the winter and spring there is a Social Committee elected by the community to organise games and activities in the

afternoons and evenings. These include capture, word games, board games, spontaneous acting, story telling, cinema trips,

etc.

Summerhill is a happy and caring community that recognise the importance of expressing emotions and learning through

feelings. There is a general openness and honesty among the community members. Staff do not use adult authority to

impose values and solve problems; these are solved by the individual with the help of friends or ombudsmen or by the

community in meetings.

The school has an outreach programme with its own external affairs person and an elected committee of pupils who

regularly take part in conferences, children's rights programmes, workshops in schools and colleges, etc. As well as this

the school endeavours to allow as many people as possible to visit and see the unique system in action.There are further plans for sharing Summerhill's long and unique experience of freedom with other schools throughout the

world. The principal and daughter of A. S. Neill, Zo Readhead, and her husband Tony are regularly invited to lecture

abroad. The enthusiastic response reflects increasing recognition of the school as a beacon of enlightened, pupil-centred

education. Recent visits have included Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Spain and Greece.

(Retrieved from http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk/pages/index_continued.html)

Waldorf education (also known as Steiner or Steiner-Waldorf education) is a humanistic approach to pedagogy based upon

the educational philosophy of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Learning is

interdisciplinary, integrating practical, artistic, and conceptual elements.[1] The approach emphasizes the role of the

imagination in learning,[2][3][4][5]:69 developing thinking that includes a creative as well as an analytic component.[6][7]

The educational philosophy's overarching goals are to provide young people the basis on which to develop into free,

morally responsible[8][9] and integrated individuals,[2][10][11] and to help every child fulfill his or her unique destiny,

the existence of which anthroposophy posits.[12][13] Schools and teachers are given considerable freedom to definecurricula within collegial structures.[14]

The first Waldorf school was founded in 1919 to serve the children of employees at the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory

in Stuttgart, Germany. As of 2011 there were 998 independent Waldorf schools located in sixty countries throughout the

world;[15] as of 2001 there were 1400 kindergartens and 120 institutions for special education world-wide.[16] There are

also Waldorf-based public (state) schools, charter schools, and homeschooling environments;[2] in addition, other state

and private schools are increasingly using methods drawn from Waldorf education.[17][18]

Pedagogy and theory of child development

The structure of the education follows Steiner's theories of child development, which describe three major developmental

stages of childhood, each having its own learning requirements, as well as a number of sub-stages.[19] These stages are

broadly similar to those described by Piaget.[20]

In early childhood learning is largely experiential, imitative and sensory-based.[21] The education emphasizes

learning through practical activities.[22] During the Elementary school years (age 714), learning is artistic and imaginative, and is guided and stimulated

by the creative authority of teachers. In these years, the approach emphasizes developing children's emotional life and

artistic expression across a wide variety of performing and visual arts.[19][23]

During adolescence, to meet the developing capacity for abstract thought and conceptual judgment[22] the

emphasis is on developing intellectual understanding and ethical ideals such as social responsibility.[19]

Waldorf education is unusual and perhaps unique in the consistency, thoroughness and creativity with which it implements

a K12 curriculum that is based upon children's academic, emotional and physical development; its underlying principles


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continue a pedagogical tradition initiated by Comenius, Pestalozzi,[24]:p. 31 and Herder[5]:p. 58 Its methodology

encourages collaborative learning.[25]

Pre-school and kindergarten: birth to age 6 or 7

Waldorf schools approach learning in early childhood through imitation and example.[26][27] Extensive time is given for

guided free play in a classroom environment that is homelike, includes natural materials and provides examples of

productive work in which children can take part;[19] such an environment is considered by Waldorf pedagogues to be

supportive of the physical, emotional and intellectual growth of the child through assimilative learning.[27] Outdoor playperiods are also generally incorporated into the school day, with the intention of providing children with experiences of

nature, weather and the seasons of the year. Oral language development is addressed through songs, poems and movement

games. These include daily story time when a teacher usually tells a fairytale, often by heart.[20]

Aids to development via play generally consist of simple materials drawn from natural sources that can be transformed

imaginatively to fit a wide variety of purposes. Waldorf dolls are intentionally made simple in order to allow playing

children to employ and strengthen their imagination and creativity. Waldorf schools generally discourage kindergarten and

lower grade pupils being exposed to media influences such as television, computers and recorded music, as they believe

these to be harmful to children's development in the early years.[21][28]

The education emphasizes early experiences of daily, weekly and annual rhythms, including seasonal festivals drawn from

a variety of traditions. Though Waldorf schools in the Western Hemisphere have traditionally celebrated Michaelmas and

Martinmas in the autumn, Christmas in winter, Easter and May Day in the spring, and St. John's Day in summer,[29] such

schools are now incorporating an increasingly wide range of cultural and religious traditions,[30] and schools locatedwhere Jewish, Buddhist, or Islamic traditions are dominant celebrate festivals drawn from these cultures.

Waldorf elementary school classroom Elementary education: age 6/7 to 14

In Waldorf schools a child normally enters elementary education when she or he is nearing or already seven years of

age.[31] The elementary school centers around a multi-disciplinary arts-based curriculum that includes visual arts, drama,

artistic movement (eurythmy), vocal and instrumental music, and crafts.[32] Throughout the elementary years, students

learn two foreign languages (in English-speaking countries often German and either Spanish or French).

Throughout the elementary years, concepts are first introduced through stories and images, and academic instruction is

integrated with the visual and plastic arts, music and movement.[33] There is little reliance on standardized textbooks;[24]

instead, each child creates his or her own illustrated summary of coursework in book form.[34] The school day generally

starts with a one-and-a-half to two-hour academic lesson that focuses on a single theme over the course of about a month's

time[7] and generally begins with an introduction that may include singing, instrumental music, recitations of poetry,

including a verse written by Steiner for the start of a school day,[29] and practice in mathematics and language arts.An objective of most Waldorf schools is to have a single teacher loop with a class throughout the elementary school years,

teaching at least the principal academic lessons;[7] Waldorf teachers have been cited for their level of personal

commitment to their pupils.[35]

Waldorf teachers use the concept of the four temperaments to help interpret, understand and relate to the behaviour and

personalities of children under their tutelage. The temperaments, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic, and sanguine,[24] are

thought to express four basic personality types, each possessing its own fundamental way of regarding and interacting with

the world.

Waldorf elementary education allows for individual variations in the pace of learning, based upon the expectation that a

child will grasp a concept or achieve a skill when he or she is ready.[13] Cooperation takes priority over

competition.[12][35] This approach also extends to physical education; competitive team sports are introduced in upper

grades.[21]

Secondary education

In most of the Waldorf schools, pupils enter secondary education when they are about fourteen years old. Secondary

education is provided by specialist teachers for each subject. The education now focuses much more strongly on academic

subjects,[36] though students normally continue to take courses in art, music, and crafts.

Pupils are encouraged to develop their own independent and creative thinking processes.[36] The curriculum is structured

to help students develop a sense of competence, responsibility and purpose,[6]:144 to foster an understanding of ethical

principles, and to build a sense of social responsibility.[19]


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Curriculum

Michael Hall School Forest Row, England

Though most Waldorf schools are autonomous institutions not required to follow a prescribed curriculum, there are

widely-agreed guidelines for the Waldorf curriculum,[37][38][39] supported by the schools' common principles.

Government-funded schools may be required to incorporate aspects of state curricula.

The Waldorf curriculum has from its inception organically incorporated multiple intelligences.[40] There are thus a few

subjects largely unique to the Waldorf schools. Foremost among these is Eurythmy, a movement art usually accompanyingspoken texts or music which includes elements of role play and dance and is designed to provide individuals and classes

with a "sense of integration and harmony".[12] The arts generally play a significant role throughout the pedagogy and

Waldorf education's unique integration of the arts into traditional content has been cited as a model for other schools.[41]

Waldorf schools generally introduce computers into the curriculum in adolescence.[42]

Governance

One of Waldorf education's central premises is that all educational and cultural institutions should be self-governing and

should grant teachers a high degree of creative autonomy within the school; this is based upon the conviction that a

holistic approach to education that aiming at the development of free individuals can only be successful when based on a

school form that expresses these same principles.[32] Most Waldorf schools are not directed by a principal or head

teacher, but rather by a number of groups, including:

The college of teachers, who decide on pedagogical issues, normally on the basis of consensus. This group is

usually open to full-time teachers who have been with the school for a prescribed period of time. Each school isaccordingly unique in its approach, as it may act solely on the basis of the decisions of the college of teachers to set policy

or other actions pertaining to the school and its students.[29] Waldorf schools have been cited for having a high level of

teacher collegiality.[35]

The board of trustees, who decide on governance issues, especially those relating to school finances and legal

issues.

Parents are encouraged to take an active part in non-curricular aspects of school life.[12] Waldorf schools have been found

to create effective adult learning communities.[47]

There are coordinating bodies for Waldorf education at both the national (e.g. the Association of Waldorf Schools of North

America and the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship in the UK and Ireland) and international level (e.g. International

Association for Waldorf Education and The European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education (ECSWE)). These

organizations certify the use of the registered names "Waldorf" and "Steiner school" and offer accreditations, often in

conjunction with regional independent school associations.[48] Some Waldorf schools are independently accredited bygovernmental authorities.[49]

Social engagement

Waldorf schools seek to cultivate pupils' sense of social responsibility,[50] respect, and compassion; to develop their

cooperative capacities; and to enable them to contribute to societal and cultural renewal;[51] studies have found the

schools' pupils to be unusually oriented towards improving social conditions and having more positive visions of the

future.[52][5]:65 Studies done in Germany and Sweden have found Waldorf pupils to be less xenophobic and less likely to

be attracted to extreme right-wing political groups than pupils in other types of schools.[53][54] The underlying

educational philosophy has been commended for being based upon peace and tolerance.[55]

Intercultural links in socially polarized communities

Waldorf schools have linked polarized communities in a variety of settings.

Under the apartheid regime in South Africa, the Waldorf school was one of the few schools in which children of

both races attended the same classes, despite the ensuing loss of state aid. A Waldorf training college in Cape Town, the

Novalis Institute, was described by UNESCO as an organization which had a great consequence in the conquest of

apartheid: "It has prepared the way and laid the foundations for a new and integrated [community].[55][56]

In Israel, the Harduf Kibbutz Waldorf school includes both Jewish and Arab faculty and students and has

extensive contact with the surrounding Arab communities;[57] it also runs an Arab-language Waldorf teacher training.[58]

In addition, a joint Arab-Jewish Waldorf kindergarten, the first Arab-Jewish, bilingual and bicultural kindergarten in

Israel,[59] was founded in Hilf (near Haifa) in 2005.[60]


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In Brazil, a Waldorf teacher, Ute Craemer, founded a community service organization providing childcare,

vocational training and work, social services including health care, and Waldorf education to more than 1,000 residents of

poverty-stricken areas (Favelas) of So Paulo.[61]

In Nepal, the Tashi Waldorf School in the outskirts of Kathmandu teaches mainly disadvantaged children from a

wide variety of cultural backgrounds.[62] It was founded in 1999 and is run by Nepalese staff.

Anthroposophy's role

Both historically and philosophically, Waldorf education grows out of anthroposophy's view of child development, whichstands as the basis for the educational theory, methodology of teaching and curriculum. This includes the belief that

humans possess an innate spirit that, having passed through previous lives, in the current life develops in a karmically

appropriate environment before returning to the spirit world where it will prepare for a future reincarnation.[66] Waldorf

pedagogy views the teacher as having "a sacred task in helping each child's soul and spirit grow".[67]

While anthroposophy is not generally taught as a subject, the degree to which anthroposophy is described by the schools

as the philosophical underpinning of Waldorf education typically varies from school to school. At times this has led to

parents objecting that the role of anthroposophy in the educational method had not been disclosed to them, prior to

enrollment.[21] The pedagogy's reliance on a single theory of child development has also been questioned and some

Waldorf teachers' uncritical attitude toward anthroposophy criticized.[14] Ullrich put Steiner's "extra-sensory

anthropology" in question: "Can any solution be found to this fundamental paradox of Steiners pedagogy the creation

of a beneficial practice on the foundation of a dubious theory?" His answer is to draw a distinction between Steiner's

disputed "living logic of images... an attempt to rehabilitate mythical thinking and ritual life in a civilization ruled byscience" and the "versatility of the related educational views, metaphors and maxims" which have a firm basis in "modern

common sense educational theory."[24]

Spirituality, religion and festivals

Waldorf education is implicitly infused with spirituality throughout the curriculum,[12] which includes a wide range of

religious traditions without favoring any single tradition.[12][44] The extent to which Waldorf theories and practices have

been modified from their traditionally European and Christian orientation to meet the historical and cultural traditions of

their local communities varies widely.[6] Examples of such adaptation include the Waldorf schools in Israel and Japan,

which celebrate festivals of their particular spiritual heritage, and classes in the Milwaukee Urban Waldorf school, which

have adopted traditions with African American and Native American heritages.[12] Such festivals, as well as assemblies

generally, play an important role in Waldorf schools and are generally celebrated by showing students' work.

Religious classes are a mandatory school offering in some German federal states,[68] whereby each religious

denomination provides its own teachers for the Waldorf schools' religion classes; such schools also offer a non-denominational religion class. Religion classes are universally absent from American Waldorf schools.[69] (Retrieved

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_education#Pedagogy_and_theory_of_child_development)

Reggio Emilia Approach By Andrew Loh

Hailed as the best pre-schools in the world by Newsweek magazine in 1991, the Reggio Emilia approach to early

childhood education has attracted the worldwide attention of educators, researchers and just about anyone interested in

early childhood education best practices. Even the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)'s

revised version of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) guidelines also included examples from Reggio approach.

Today, Reggio approach has been adopted in USA, UK, New Zealand, Australia and many other countries.

Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994) founded the 'Reggio Emilia' approach at a city in northern Italy called Reggio Emilia. The

'Reggio' approach was developed for municipal child-care and education programs serving children below six. The

approach requires children to be seen as competent, resourceful, curious, imaginative, inventive and possess a desire to

interact and communicate with others.The 'Reggio' vision of the child as a competent learner has produced a strong child-directed curriculum model. The

curriculum has purposive progression but not scope and sequence. Teachers follow the children's interests and do not

provide focused instruction in reading and writing. Reggio approach has a strong belief that children learn through

interaction with others, including parents, staff and peers in a friendly learning environment.

Here are some key features of Reggio Emilia's early childhood program:

The role of the environment-as-teacher


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Within the Reggio Emilia schools, the educators are very concerned about what their school environments teach

children. Hence, a great attention is given to the look and feel of the classroom. It is often referring to the environment as

the "third teacher"

The aesthetic beauty within the schools is seen as an important part of respecting the child and their learning

environment

A classroom atmosphere of playfulness and joy pervades

Teachers organize environments rich in possibilities and provocations that invite the children to undertakeextended exploration and problem solving, often in small groups, where cooperation and disputation mingle pleasurably.

Documentation of children's work, plants, and collections that children have made from former outings are

displayed both at the children's and adult eye level.

Common space available to all children in the school includes dramatic play areas and work tables for children

from different classrooms to come together.

Here is a link to view some of the environmental pictures

Children's multiple symbolic languages

Using the arts as a symbolic language through which to express their understandings in their project work

Consistent with Dr. Howard Gardner's notion of schooling for multiple intelligences, the Reggio approach calls

for the integration of the graphic arts as tools for cognitive, linguistic, and social development.

Presentation of concepts and hypotheses in multiple forms such as print, art, construction, drama, music,

puppetry, and shadow play. These are viewed as essential to children's understanding of experience.Documentation as assessment and advocacy

(Rather unique in Reggio approach)

Documenting and displaying the children's project work, which is necessary for children to express, revisit, and

construct and reconstruct their feelings, ideas and understandings.

Similar to the portfolio approach, documentation of children's work in progress is viewed as an important tool in

the learning process for children, teachers, and parents.

Pictures of children engaged in experiences, their words as they discuss what they are doing, feeling and

thinking, and the children's interpretation of experience through the visual media are displayed as a graphic presentation of

the dynamics of learning.

Teachers act as recorders (documenters) for the children, helping them trace and revisit their words and actions

and thereby making the learning visible.

Long-term projects Supporting and enriching children's learning through in-depth, short-term (one week) and long-term (throughout

the school year) project work, in which responding, recording, playing, exploring, hypothesis building and testing, and

provoking occurs.

Projects are child-centered, following their interest, returning again and again to add new insights.

Throughout a project, teachers help children make decisions about the direction of study, the ways in which the

group will research the topic, the representational medium that will demonstrate and showcase the topic.

The teacher as researcher

The teacher's role within the Reggio Emilia approach is complex. Working as co-teachers, the role of the teacher

is first and foremost to be that of a learner alongside the children. The teacher is a teacher-researcher, a resource and guide

as she/he lends expertise to children.

Within such a teacher-researcher role, educators carefully listen, observe, and document children's work and the

growth of community in their classroom and are to provoke and stimulate thinking

Teachers are committed to reflection about their own teaching and learning.

Classroom teachers working in pairs and collaboration, sharing information and mentoring between personnel.

Home-school relationships

Children, teachers, parents and community are interactive and work together. Building a community of inquiry

between adults and children.

For communication and interaction can deepen children's inquiry and theory building about the world around

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Programs in Reggio are family centered. Loris's vision of an "education based on relationships" focuses on each

child in relation to others and seeks to activate and support children's reciprocal relationships with other children, family,

teachers, society, and the environment.

Reggio approach is not a formal model with defined methods (such as Waldorf and Montessori), teacher certification

standards and accreditation processes. But rather, the educators in Reggio Emilia speak of their evolving "experience" and

see themselves as a provocation and reference point, a way of engaging in dialogue starting from a strong and rich vision

of the child. In all of these settings, documentation was explored as a means of promoting parent and teacherunderstanding of children's learning and development.

While this article concentrate on Reggio Emilia approach on early childhood education, it did not play down on the other

approaches such as Waldorf and Montessori. Each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses as well as areas of

difference.

What makes the Reggio Emilia approach stand out? In a nutshell, Reggio approach articulates children to acquire skills of

critical thinking and collaboration. All preschool operators ought to benchmark against the Reggio Emilia schools. Here is

the contact link to look for preschool that based on Reggio approach.

(Retrieved from http://www.brainy-child.com/article/reggioemilia.shtml)

The History of Kindergarten

Kindergarten is a classroom program that consists of children ages three to seven years of age. The programs range from

half days to full days of school depending on the availability of the school system. For most children this is the first step

towards developing social skills in a group setting without the assistance of mom or dad. Most kindergartens share theobjectives of teaching social skills, self-esteem and developing a child's academic ability.

There was a kindergarten in Watertown, Wisconsin, founded by Margarethe Schurz in 1856. Elizabeth Peabody had

established one in Boston in 1873. But the first kindergarten in the world was founded by a man named Friedrich Froebel.

Friedrich Froebel was known as the "Father of Kindergarten" because he developed the first kindergarten in Germany in

1837 (Colliers). His kindergarten developed theories and practices that are still being used today in kindergarten

classrooms. His ideas were that children need to have play time in order to learn. Kindergarten should be a place for

children to grow and learn from their social interaction with other children.

Friedrich Froebel wrote a book based on his theories and practices concerning the kindergarten environment. The book

was burned by the German community. They did not believe children needed to play in order to learn. They thought his

theories were outrageous.

The first kindergarten was established to help children of poverty and who had special needs. "Many nurseries at this time

would coincide with the kindergartens which were run by the philanthropically minded women in order to serve thefamilies of the poor" (Cremin). These nurseries/kindergartens would stress the systematic play of Froebel's philosophy.

Through systematic play the children are able to learn to discriminate, analyze, share and solve problems.

In 1872, kindergartens gained support from the National Education Association, which in 1884 established a department

of kindergarten instruction. Through the efforts of many people the kindergarten has worked its way into many schools,

private and public.

(Retrieved from http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/kindergarten.html)

What is Reggio Emilia? By Rose Garrett

For many parents of preschool-aged children, the beginning of the school years can be scary. When your child starts going

to school, it means less parent involvement in day to day learning, and more teacher-structured lessons; less play, and

more work. But a growing form of early childhood education, called the Reggio Emilia approach, is turning heads with its

unique take on teaching one which makes parents, teachers, and children equal shareholders in the learning initiative.

Although Reggio Emilia is an Italian export, it's not, as you might expect, a fancy cheese. In fact, it's an approach toeducation from a city in of the same name, which focuses on the educational importance of community and free inquiry as

its primary values. Since its development in the 1940's, the Reggio approach has spread into a worldwide network of

preschools and kindergartens, with designs for elementary classes in the works.

Although the Reggio approach shares some of the values of the better-known Waldorf and Montessori schools, it's not a

philosophy with a set system of beliefs. Rather, it's an approach based around certain fundamental values about how

children learn. These values are interpreted in different schools, different contexts, and different ways, says Susan Lyon,

Executive Director of The Innovative Teacher Project, which aims to develop and promote Reggio inspired education.

Just what are these core values? Here's an introduction:


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The child as an active participant in learning. The Reggio approach sees a child as a very competent protagonist

and initiator, who interacts with their environment, says Lyon. Andra Young, head teacher of a Reggio inspired school in

San Francisco's Presidio State Park, says that students are allowed to follow their own interests, but that it's not willy-

nilly. For example, she says, students in her classroom were showing an interest in building, so she brought wood stumps

and building materials into the classroom. While exploring how to hammer nails, the children were given the opportunity

to reinforce math skills, problem-solving, and emerging literacy all in relationship to their hands-on project.

The significance of environment. The environment of the school is seen as the third educator,after the teacherand the parent, says Lyon. Most Reggio classrooms include a studio, or atelier, which is filled with materials such as

clay, paint, and writing implements. Children use these materials to represent concepts that they are learning in a hands-on

way.

The teacher, parent, and child as collaborators in the process of learning. Normally, says Lyon, parents are not

seen as part of the educational process in an authentic way. But the Reggio approach views the parent as an essential

resource for their child's learning. To foster community, Reggio schools host a variety of events throughout each school

year, including conferences and special lectures for parents. For example, a teacher observed that a lot of parents were

complaining that their children weren't sleeping well, Lyon says. The school responded by bringing someone in to speak

to parents about the issue.

Making learning visible. The teacher observes and documents the daily life of the school to make learning

visible, says Lyon. In Reggio inspired classrooms, teachers use a variety of documentation methods, such as cameras,

tape recorders, and journals, to track children's thoughts and ideas as they play together or work with materials. Forexample, says Young, each child has a portfolio binder, including photographs of their projects, quotes from the child,

artwork, and writing samples. It's kind of like a narrative of what the child learns at school, says Young, noting that the

children take great pride and satisfaction in their portfolios.

Although adapting the values of the Reggio Emilia approach can be challenging for teachers, Young says it's worth it.

Validating the children's work and supporting the child to go deeper into their perception of the world is the most

important part of the process. Parents and teachers will agree: it's never too soon to start giving your child a nose for

knowledge and the tools to investigate the world.

(Retrieved From http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Reggio_Emilia/)


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