Learning Differently: How Waldorf Schools Around
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SPRING/SUMMER 2021 SPRING/SUMMER WALDORF WORLDWIDE Topic Learning differently NEWSLETTER OF THE FRIENDS OF WALDORF EDUCATION OF WALDORF OF THE FRIENDS NEWSLETTER How Waldorf schools around the world coped during the Corona Crisis Peru Around the world Zimbabwe Completion of the first Joint Action: Conference and training in-service teacher Corona aid - thanks opportunities for Waldorf training programme from all over the world teachers 2 Contents NEW WALDORF TEACHERS IN PERU t the beginning of this year, after five years, the first in-service teacher training for Waldorf A education in Peru was completed. Page 6 LEARNING DIFFERENTLY WALDORF WORLDWIDE This issue of Waldorf Worldwide is first and 4 About us foremost an expression of gratitude. Thanks 5 Zimbabwe to your donations and through the support Conference for kindergarten of foundations, Waldorf associations and teachers some Waldorf schools in Germany, we have been able to help over 100 Waldorf educa- 6 Peru tional institutions in 36 countries by raising A perspective on the first more than €1.35 million. These funds have cohort to graduate helped colleagues and school communities 8 Argentina cope with the unprecedented situation sur- Dynamism in times of rounding the pandemic – including serious uncertainty economic consequences in some countries. We have received numerous letters of thanks from the supported Waldorf schools, Waldorf kindergartens and therapeutic education institutions. You will find a small selection of them in our cover story starting on page 10. Cover photo: Rudolf Steiner School Mbagathi, Nairobi, Kenya Contents 3 STAYING STRONG TOGETHER: LEARNING DIFFERENTLY – WALDORF IN CRISIS AREAS LEARNING OUTDOORS ith our current appeal for donations we support any Waldorf schools around the world have set Waldorf schools, Waldorf kindergartens and cu- up open-air classrooms to enable face-to-face W M rative education institutions in areas marked by wars teaching. In our ‘impressions’ we show you some of and catastrophes. Page 20 them. Page 22 WALDORF WORLDWIDE TOPIC FROM OUR WORK 10 Learning differently 24 From the work of the Friends Joint Action: 29 Volunteer Services Corona Help Online vs. Offline — 12 Worldwide Volunteer seminars during Covid-19 Letters of Thanks: 30 Volunteer Services Argentina, Georgia, Great Britain, When volunteer services change lives South Africa, Turkey, Mexico and Colombia 32 Emergency Pedagogy Destruction as far as the eye can see 20 Staying strong together: Waldorf in crisis areas 34 A somewhat different WOW-Day 22 Impressions 38 New association structure for the Friends Outdoor Classrooms 40 Donate and Help 41 Imprint 42 Educational sponsorships in South Africa Same-Same, but different 43 Educational sponsorships 4 About us The Friends of Waldorf Education have been promoting Waldorf Education worldwide for over 40 years. Our association has de- veloped continuously, and we now work on several focus areas from our offices in Berlin and Karlsruhe. Waldorf Worldwide The Friends of Waldorf Education was founded in 1971 with the aim of promoting Waldorf Schools, early childhood education, therapeutic education centres and social projects worldwide. It is very important to us Emergency Pedagogy to open up good educational oppor- Voluntary Services tunities for children and young peo- ple around the globe. So far, we have Since 2006, the Friends of Waldorf supported and accompanied well In 1993, the Friends of Waldorf Education has been committed to over 600 educational institutions all Education also became a recognized emergency pedagogy for children over the world. We support Waldorf organization for international vol- who live in war and crisis regions, or Schools as well as anthroposophical untary service. With the suspen- are refugees. Emergency education therapeutic education homes world- sion of compulsory military ser- uses Waldorf-educational methods wide in financial and legal matters vice, the area of domestic voluntary and related forms of therapy to help and forward 100% of our donations services was added in 2011. Since children cope with traumatic expe- to the recipients abroad. Our educa- then, the association has supported riences. With art therapy and expe- tional sponsorships enable children over 1,800 people annually during riential education exercises, we can from disadvantaged families to at- their voluntary service. Since 2006, strengthen the children’s self-confi- tend a Waldorf School. We support the voluntary services have been dence as well as their trust in their the training of school and early extended to include volunteers fellow human beings and resolve childhood teachers around the world from abroad, called Incoming. This their paralysis. This type of trauma with scholarships. On WOW-Day enables young adults who have work has already proven itself in (Waldorf One World) we coordinate their permanent residence outside numerous missions worldwide. A the worldwide fundraising activities Germany to do voluntary service in further focus is on international net- for Waldorf initiatives by students. Germany. working and the ongoing training of local professionals. worldwide 5 again in November 2020. At that time, due to low Zimbabwe Covid 19 infection numbers, there were no trav- el or exit restrictions, so 50 kindergarten teachers from around the country were able to travel to Conference for Chitungwiza. For one day, the women took advan- tage of the opportunities to exchange ideas. They kindergarten received new ideas for the morning circle, for sto- rytelling and for age-appropriate games, rhymes teachers and songs. On 14th November 2020, 50 kindergarten teach- During the discussions, it became clear what ers from Zimbabwe met in the small town of is lacking in the kindergartens. Most are not equipped with enough playground equipment; Chitungwiza, south of the capital city of Harare. there is a lack of climbing equipment, see- saws, swings and balance beams. All the kinder- ince 2011, the Waldorf Early Childhood Move- gartens run nutrition programmes, but most ment Zimbabwe (WECMZ) has brought to- lack funding to purchase basic food items. S gether, for a conference twice a year, all kinder- Most of the facilities are created through the per- garten teachers who are interested in Waldorf sonal commitment of the kindergarten teachers, es- education and some of whom are already partic- pecially in the poorer, rural areas of Zimbabwe. The ipating in the training courses. WECMZ is a net- Corona crisis has exacerbated the hardship, as teach- work of over 20 small and larger kindergartens in ers‘ pay depends on parents‘ already meagre contri- Zimbabwe that are trying to work with Waldorf butions, which many are now unable to pay - a situ- elements. WECMZ organizes the training and ar- ation that threatens the very existence of the small ranges internships at Waldorf institutions, for ex- initiatives. In January, a renewed strict lockdown ample in South Africa. The death of our important was imposed in Zimbabwe due to high case num- supporter, Dr Florence Hibbeler, and the effects of bers, with corresponding consequences for the kin- Corona pandemic meant that the regular confer- dergartens. For 2021, meanwhile, the Friends pledged ence of kindergarten teachers did not take place substantial support from the Corona campaign. for a long period of time. It was finally possible Gilbert Guvakuva/Christina Reinthal 6 worldwide Peru A perspective on the first cohort to graduate At the beginning of this year, after five years, the first in-service teacher training for Waldorf education in Peru was completed, carried out by Pro Humanus. The association, founded in 2004, mainly supports initiatives in disadvantaged regions of the country in the areas of culture, education and health. Bettina Vielmetter, the initiator of the association, tells us about the teacher training programme. uring the Latin American Waldorf Teachers‘ In Peru, the school year begins in March. After the Congress in Brazil in 2012, a large group of long summer break from December of the previ- D teachers from Peru‘s various Waldorf institutions ous year, in 2020, the children had the pleasure of participated, some having never met before. This meeting their classmates and teachers for just one fact shook us awake and the decision was made to day, and then there were no more classes at all - make a new attempt at ongoing collaboration. Or- until today. An exception was made during a short ganizational meetings of project leaders from local period towards the end of the year with occasional Waldorf education and anthroposophical medicine activities in small groups in parks. initiatives kept in close contact with the pedagogi- cal and medical sections at the Goetheanum. After We had a similar situation with the Especial- a series of annual pedagogical working meetings, in ización. In February, we were able to conduct the 2016, the five-year, in-service teacher training – the fifth year of study, face to face, with a one-week Especialización en Pedagogía Waldorf en el Perú intensive module and at the beginning of March – began. Sixty participants enrolled from various our study session took place for the last time in Waldorf institutions, and a number of state and the rooms of the Waldorf School Lima. Then, after private schools in Lima, the interior of the coun- an initially chaotic phase of searching for feasible try, and from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Cuba and solutions for distance learning, both in the schools Spain. The lecturers were mainly from Peru, as well and in further education, we succeeded in devel- as from Colombia, Spain, Switzerland and Germa- oping a new kind of flexibility and creativity for ny. Some of them accompanied the training process the pedagogical work that was appropriate to the in the form of two one-week modules per year, one situation. weekend per month and the weekly study sessions. From the third year, some students contributed as As far as the parents could arrange it, they accom- temporary lecturers in courses on the arts and prac- panied their children in close cooperation with tical pedagogy.