The teacher’s intensive at the Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School was a wonderful experience this year. 170 primary school teachers gathered from all over Australia - that’s some 5,000 children who were represented by their teachers for the coming year. Summer was in full swing during the 5 days in January that the conference took place - but there was lots of good humor, laughing, singing and a feeling of a collegial community to accompany the long hot days and hikes up the craggy hill upon which the beautiful campus of the Glenaeon school is situated. It’s quite something to take part in an event where the questions, challenges and inspiration for the task of teaching can all be woven together to create a community (for the briefest moment) where hope for the future can resound within the heart. The keynote speakers Valentin Wember and Lisa Romero spoke on various topics but to name a few: inner development for the teacher; what Steiner education is really about; the mysteries of the will and awakening to spirit in the world. Both Lisa and Valentin were underscoring the importance of the arts in Waldorf school classrooms - not just the arts in their pure form, as an artist would practice - but also as one of the main tools that educators can summon to build a diverse and flexible experiencing life within the growing child.
In many instances, the arts were mentioned as carrier for a healing agent or balm for what the depths of the human soul requires in order that true learning to take place, where both outer stimuli (such as a story, music and/or the activity of painting) can engage the inner activity of the child towards health and harmony; thereby offering a potential balancer for some of the great challenges that educators are faced with in their classrooms today.
I was at the conference supporting the morning singing sessions and working to bring the arts into the week through artistic experiences offered to the participants, along with my colleagues Jen Zimberg and Séamus Maynard. So the themes in the lectures were something that I am dedicated to supporting as part of my work in the arts and the world at large. In this way, the conference felt pertinent and inspiring towards continuing on that path - which has left me feeling grateful to be connected with such a community of individuals.
When we gathered each day as a whole group to sing before the morning speaker, I was struck by the warmth and enthusiasm of the participants. Their willingness to learn, participate and give themselves to their singing was a great gift that will I will carry with me on the journey ahead.
Meaghan is an artist, contributor and educator for the Arts Program, Healing the Impact of Technology Program and the Social Understanding, Gender and Sexuality Program.