It has once again been a busy start to the term, and with the warm weather starting to smile upon us once more, I have relished the chance to get out and about around the school and away from my computer. One of my favourite ways to do this is on my fortnightly GHSS school tour.

Every second Friday, GHSS hosts a school tour for new and prospective parents. As we wander from one classroom or learning space to another, I can’t help but feel a sense of pride in belonging to such a beautiful school. We begin our tour in kindy, where the children are often to be found sitting around the campfire in bush school, sipping their cups of rooibos tea, or off on a bush walk. As we travel through the remainder of the classes, some may be painting, others will be working on their cross-stitch projects, while others will be quietly at their desk and at work on a page of maths sums. Sophia and the Class 2 students are often to be found playing the lyre on the verandah, as the melodies of the violin ensemble drift across the playground. It is not always quite as idyllic as this though- on one tour, we happened to interrupt a class during a ‘paper aeroplane’ break, and another class who were in the middle of a heated debate with their teacher!

People come to visit the Steiner school or join a tour with all sorts of questions. Why are there no whiteboards or computers in the Steiner primary school? Why do they have the same class teacher all the way through? Most of these are easy enough to answer. Curiously enough, the most difficult question to answer can often be, "So, what exactly  IS Steiner education?" After all, there are so many aspects to it, and we are very often known more for what we don’t embrace (i.e. digital technology in the early years, plastic toys, textas etc) than for what we do. Many of the words that are used to describe Steiner education, such as ‘holistic’, ‘nature-based’, and ‘creative’ can also be used to describe other local alternative schools.

So, how are we different, and what is Steiner education really about? Is it our wet-on-wet watercolour paintings? Wooden recorders? Our interesting buildings with few right angles? A lunchbox free of waste and full of home-cooked, organic food?

While these may be some of the trappings or traditions that come with Steiner Education, SEA (Steiner Education Australia) says the following:

“Steiner schools educate the whole young person so they are academically prepared for a successful career, while at the same time enabled to grow into an adult ready to build a meaningful life of character and contribution. Our academic program is framed and delivered in a manner that supports the physical and emotional health of our students, ensuring that wellbeing is at the core of all that Steiner schools do. Steiner schools aim to build young people of distinction who can contribute positively to Australian and global society.”

When we get too bogged down in surface-level elements, or don’t approach the education of our children in a conscious and heartfelt way, things can go from being tradition to being dogma. Whispered accusations of something or someone not being ‘Steiner enough’ can often befall a Steiner school community.

Other things are truly are important and DO matter to our community. One prime example is protecting our children from the negative influences of the media or excessive screen time. For many years, Steiner schools were seen as strange outliers on this front, but the research and evidence is at last ‘catching up’ on informing the wider public of the damages that digital technology can reap on childhood.

 A few years, Vanessa Fountain from West Coast Steiner School in Perth wrote a wonderful article on what is ‘Steiner’ or ‘not Steiner.’ This is titled ‘Holding the Question’, and is published in this edition of the Quill. I encourage everyone to read it.

“Love is higher than opinion. If people love one another the most varied opinions can be reconciled - thus one of the most important tasks for humankind today and in the future is that we should learn to live together and understand one another. If this human fellowship is not achieved, all talk of development is empty.”

-Rudolf Steiner-

Warm regards

Eliza Allan