Waldorf pedagogy is, at its heart, anthroposophical pedagogy. The anthroposophical theory of knowledge is the foundation of Waldorf Education.
Thinking brings....content to the percept out of the human being's world of concepts and ideas. In contrast to perceptual content, which is given to us from without, thought-content appears within. We shall call the form in which thought content first arises intuition. Intuition is to thinking as observation is to perception. Intuition and observation are the sources of our knowledge.
(R. Steiner, The Philosophy of Freedom.)
Rudolf Steiner describes this same dual foundation of knowledge again in Theosophy "In the same sense in which revelation of the corporeal world is called sensation, let the revelation of the spiritual world (i.e., the world of ideas) be called intuition."
In teaching children we build consciously on both of these pillars. We direct their attention to the world around them, training their skills in observations in the arts and sciences.How do we foster intuition?
In this course we will examine how children's intuition evolves. We will begin with examples from the earliest years of childhood when the thinking is pictorial-imaginative and progress through the elementary school years into adolescence when the orientation moves toward the logical and abstract. We will explore how the teacher's own mental-spiritual activity can influence the students' imagination and thinking and how the right mental imagery can open the doors to intuition. Subtle distinctions in the teacher's speech and soul gesture can have significant consequences. Participants will have the opportunity to practice a variety of teaching styles in storytelling, science teaching, poetry, and more.
We will consider how general aspects of the evolution of consciousness are recapitulated in child development. How we meet these changes and avoid the temptation either to rush their development or, alternately, to delay them is one of the central questions in Waldorf Education.
This course is intended for experienced teachers. However, newcomers to education are welcome. Each session will include a presentation as well as time for discussion and model lessons.
Texts:
Rudolf Steiner:
The Philosophy of Freedom, Chapter 5
Theosophy, Chapter 1
Study of Man, Lecture 9