With schools around the world having to re-invent the way in which they teach their students, it is never more relevant to ask whether our educational approach adequately prepares children for the uncertainties of the modern world. Research shows that a dramatically different future for young people will be required to live a viable and sustainable life, with an increasing shift towards personal growth, development and learning becoming a lifetime commitment. Education focused solely on skills and knowledge will no longer sufficiently prepare young people to keep pace with the demands of a rapidly changing world.
Steiner education is based on a developmental and pedagogical understanding of children that builds the capacities and qualities needed for the future. Working out of a developmentally based approach means that the methodology shifts as the children grow and progress through their schooling. Simply put, the approach is to steadily shift the locus of self management from outside of the child to within.
In kindergarten, the children are held by the loving authority of their teachers, who consciously model appropriate social interactions and behaviour. Later, the students begin to experience more clearly stated rules and carefully chosen stories arising out of the cultural epochs that guide them. In their early teens, through their studies in History and of the biographies of people who impacted the world by their actions, the students learn that there are consequences of the choices they make. In the High School, our students are supported to become consciously responsible for their own world view and actions, in both real and virtual environments.
Steiner education primarily focuses on teaching children how to think, not what to think. Although this distinction is subtle, we can see the results reflected in the well rounded, confident young adults that graduate from Steiner schools each year. See the 2021 Year 12 Projects at https://www.lysslearnproject.com.au/
