So, we went to an open day today at our local Steiner school. Baby Kip is still just that – a baby so there’s no rush to make a decision but we were just curious. We were interested in how it could give our daughter an alternative start in education, especially the concept of starting formalised learning later (at 7) as they do on t’continent.
We came away wanting to do more research on the place/type of education it gave and are in a position now where we aren’t really convinced. This mainly borders on cornerns regarding technology (or rather the lack of exposure to it), the religious/philosopical side of it (how do you pronounce Anthroposophy?) and some unknown general feelin of uncertainty.
Have any of you actual experience of Steiner schools? What do you think/have you found?
If you haven’t got expeience then opinions are welcome, it would be interesting to see what people think.
Cheers.

Woo-ism of the first order that should not be inflicted on children would be my opinion. Look at that young boy playing outside with sticks in the rain, isn’t that nice and natural? He’s 12 and can’t read like, but I’m sure he’ll get round to it eventually.

You may hear other more positive opinions, but one unequivocal fact of the Steiner education is how poorly it meshes with mainstream teaching. So if you were happy with a Steiner school, but your circumstances changed (say you moved) and your kid had to go back to a normal school that could be problematic.

I’m not sure it meshes that badly with mainstream education. My girlfriend went to Steiner school from kindrgarden till sixth form. She’s just graduated from uni with a first. Obviously not everyone will find that transition as easy as her, it is a massively different form of education.

mansonsoul: what was her first in? Arty stuff or techy stuff? How did she feel about the whole experience and how has it affected her socially? I’m guessing not much as she didn’t have to change schools part way through. That’s out other concern as our local school stops at year 8, and the local comm coll isn’t famed for it’s lovely pupils and high achievements (trust me I’ve worked there!).

What was her first in mate? Interpretative dance?
[Edit – didn’t see Kip’s post when I wrote that. Seriously, I wouldn’t expect Steiner students to be capable of a degree in maths or a science, say, let alone excelling in it. Not that they wouldn’t have the ability, but rather you need these interests kindled and nurtured at an early age – something the Steiner schools are poor at as I understand it]

Obviously there will be kids who do very well there and are success stories – a normal kid who’s behind in their reading and maths because of the retarded Steiner curriculum can get back up to speed when they hit their teens (well probably never in maths). Problems arise for kids who have developmental issues with reading and the window of opportunity for tackling them has all but closed when they’re older.

My younger sister is mentally handicapped (has learning difficulties in current parlance). She attended a Steiner school until she was 16 then moved into a hostel run by a local charity for adults with learning difficulties – she’s now 43.

The school was, in my memory and my parents’ opinion, excellent – really couldn’t fault it and it was absolutely the right place for her to be.

However I knew a few kids who went to a “normal” (for want of a better term) Steiner school and I’d have grave reservations. It seems to me to be a very hippy dippy let the kids learn if / when they want to sort of philosophy – which may and can work for some kids, but I don’t think I’d have sent mine to a Steiner school.

Garry Lager: Interesting. The whole picking up on learning difficulties is a concern we thought about. Hopefully our little ‘un won’t have problems but you never know. However, as for for the “retarded” system of learning later…that’s common practice on the continent, especially Germany, and they seem to do quite well.

I got berrated at our local one for making my kids xmas cake a chocolate one with icing and jam in it. Apparently the Christamas cake had to be plain sponge. I explained that itwas vegan and organic [true but I was just trolling] but they reacted like I hade made space cake for them all.

Quite upper middle class twee types who are a bit odd mixed with dreadlocked commune types. Eclectic but a bit bonkers. Whatever the weaknesses of formal state education it is fairly broad in context and alternatives are nice sounding but not always better
Home education is also another area that is not awe inspiring. They are up in arms about people visitng once a year to see what they do as it is an invasion of their privacy. i know someone [through work- state intervention] who home educates her children yet she cannot read herself and this is legal. YOu would think the SS had called the way she acts when we call.
PS If i really wanted to annoy them I used to mistake steiner for Rod steiger of Jaws fame

In case I am not clear I am not a fan

I went to a Steiner school all the way through as my parents were really into the ideology. They started the “3Rs” at the age of 7. Most of the teaching in all subjects was done by one individual teacher up to the age of 13. This is great if said teacher is brilliant, but since the staff tend to be recruited on the strength of their ideological commitment rather than any paticular skill in the teaching department, it can also go horribly wrong.
The creative aspect is one of the systems strengths, encouraging imagination and individuality.
I don’t think a small amount of technophobia in education is a bad thing; there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that todays game-consul generation do have problems concentrating for more than 5 minutes at something as boring as a job!
The Steiner ideology appears a lot less weird in its native German; it doesn’t translate terribly well IMO.

We have no interest in Baby Kip being a console head, especially as we don’t have one in the house, but we both see the virtues of being IT literate. your comments are useful though Chickenman…cheers.

I also went to a Steiner School… As Chickenman says, it all depends on the quality of the teachers (but then what education system doesn’t). Most of my teachers were excellent and had come to the job after other careers (solicitors, doctors etc) so had broad life experience. Mind you, that was many years ago now and the ‘modern’ Steiner schools do seem a bit more ‘hippie’ than in my day.

What was her first in mate? Interpretative dance?

I laughed very loudly at this, because you’re not far off – Contemporary Performance. However she also got an A* at maths at A Level. But my girlfriend’s older sister also had the full Steiner education and has a masters in theology. Make no mistake, Steiner education does not prevent academic achievement, as Germany well shows.

However, there really is a lot of truth in the stereotype of Steiner children being tuned towards ‘arty’ areas. The important part to remember is that all lessons, all subjects are taught with ‘art’ hand in hand. Creativity is not separate. I like the sound of that, personally. I also have a lot of time for giving children space to play before growing up so to speak.

I like the softness of it, no football, the colouring, the veggie food. But I’m a hippy, so what can I say? 😳

I don’t like some of the philosophy (have you read some of Steiner’s writing – what a crackpot!) nor the Christian elements, but I do think the education has a lot to offer.

I had a friend when I was younger who went to a Steiner School, when he got to about 16 (no it was 17 he was a year older than me and started A-levels later) he rebelled against his very hippyish parents went to some rah rah sixth form college in Worcester and became a real snob… he’s now a lawyer apprently and doing very well for himself, I havent seen him since he was 18, still see his dad everyonce in a while though.

I have another friend who went to a Steiner School, a really nice bloke, used to be in a band and spent many years kind of not doing much in particular. He is now married with kids and works for a design company in London and is doing very well for himself.

wAll of which proves nothing and I have no idea what Steiner schools are all about really.