Question 4

My Fundamental Ideas Educational Beliefs

Never discourage anyone... who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.
Plato

My initial experiences in learning the art of education have been mainly through the educational views of Rudolph Steiner. These views serve as the foundation for my educational beliefs of which I outline below. However through the study of this course I have come to realise and understand other educationalist theories that compliment and add to my own.

Education is an art in that it is a creative endeavour that defines and redefines itself through the different ages and the changing cultures of our world. However behind it’s changing outer face the art of education must be built upon the knowledge of the members of the human being and of each of the developmental stages that these bodies or members go through.

The main bodies that give us a holistic picture of the human being are–

1. The physical body– The physical material form of the outer human being, in common with the mineral system.
2. The etheric body-– The etheric or life body, the body that forms and organises the outer matter into a vessel for the human being, in common with the plant kingdom
3. The astral or feeling body-– The astral or feeling life of a person that is in common with the animal kingdom
4. The ego or thinking body – The living-thinking component in a person placing themselves within the human kingdom.

As the human being grows he or she has a predominance of activity in one of these bodies from the physical to the ego. These phases on increased activity reveal themselves not only outwardly through the physical changes that occur but also inwardly in the development of soul or spiritual faculties. The word spiritual in this sense means the higher world of thinking, of thoughts as being the reflection of the truth in the universal whole.
There are seven-year periods of increased activity and development for the four bodies mentioned above. During these periods a person intereacts, learns and acquires knowledge predominantly through that particular developing body.

Ages of Increased Development
Ages 0–7
The physical body predominates. Children during this age learn most strongly through the physical body as experiences through the senses inform the child of its new home on the earth.
Ages 7–14
The etheric body predominates. Children learn most strongly in this period through activities that have a strong life principle. Rhythm, harmonious growth and movement, the lawfulness of the musical scale in that the notes all develop a sequence of expectation and learning to begin again with the octave, the lawfulness of rhythms of day and night and the seasons , the sounds of speech, all processes that can be found in nature in terms of the life/ form giving principle can be used as learning tools. An educator of this stage must teach through using the natural rhythms and forms in nature in their presentation of content

Ages 14–21
The birth and development of the feeling body predominates. Children of this age learn through their feeling life of antipathies and sympathies. An educator of this stage must teach through presenting material that create a strong feeling response.

Ages 21–27
The birth and development of the thinking or ego body predominates. People at this stage learn most strongly through their thinking and reflecting. An educator must provide this stage with material to "chew over" with their thinking gained though his/her and other's experiences and reflections of life.

I believe that a teacher must teach students by firstly meeting them where they are, by teaching through the realities of how the children learn at different stages of development. This view I have also found in the Constructivists theories of Vygotsky with his ZOPD and emphasis on the importance of culture and language and Piaget’s different periods of learning, that is,the Sensorimotor Period (birth to 2 years), Preoperational Thought (2 to 6/7 years), Concrete Operations (6/7 to 11/12 years) and the Formal Operations (11/12 to adult).
The methods used in my practical day to day teaching and preparation resemble most strongly Constructivist ideas in terms of learning being a progression involving social process, interactions with the environment and self-reflection.
The Leadership theories in education also resinate with my teaching beliefs in that I teach though example and not through demands, although I do occasionally employ Behaviourist positive reinforcement as suggested by Skinner, but only if i can believe what i am saying and not just simply use it as a coersion tool.
I believe that there are many different ways to learn something and that a teacher must develop lessons that cater to all those different and sometimes highly individual styles of learning. I have found Gardner’s MI very helpful in diagnosing and understanding different learning styles an useful in developing lessons that cater to those styles.
My discipline models resemble those of Rudolph Dreikurs in that all children are inherently good and that inappropriate behaviour occurs when I child has a disturbance in their life, also through the instigation of logical consequences and Glasser in understanding that if the basic foundations for inner and outer health are lacking a child behaves inappropriately.
I believe children should be given tools that help them remove obstacles in their learning process as found in the Emotion Intelligence theories
Finally my views are similar to those of educationalist and teacher Alan Coman in th ten point he outlined in establishing a Creative Learning Community.


(So I guess you can call me Anthroposophoconstructidemocrativist)