The key to Steiner-Waldorf teaching: never stay where you are

Janice Hill is an English teacher at the Steiner-Waldorf school of Reggio Emilia. We talk with her about the main characteristics of Waldorf education and how this pedagogy is put into practice. As Janice told us in Waldorf schools generally there is more space for dialogue, music, creativity, and artistic skills. They don’t have text books, they create their own books, while in the state schools the children are given a text book immediately and they have to start reading, writing, colouring, and there is less concentration in the actual human communication which is how language should be taught. When the children are learning languages, particularly the smallest children, they learn primarily through imitation. When you learn your first language through your parents and the people around you, the same should be for your second, third or fourth language. So they do a lot of singing, a lot of dialogue, a lot of plays and the kids loose themselves, when they are learning a language they don’t re