Pedagogy and Theory of Child Development
The structure of the education follows Steiner's theories of child development, which describe three major developmental stages of childhood, each having its own learning requirements, as well as a number of sub-stages. These stages are broadly similar to those described by Piaget.
- In early childhood learning is largely experiential, imitative and sensory-based. The education emphasizes learning through practical activities.
- During the elementary school years (age 7–14), learning is artistic and imaginative, and is guided and stimulated by the creative authority of teachers. In these years, the approach emphasizes developing children's emotional life and artistic expression across a wide variety of performing and visual arts.
- During adolescence (age 14-19), the emphasis is on developing intellectual understanding and ethical ideals such as social responsibility to meet the developing capacity for abstract thought and conceptual judgment
Waldorf education realizes an unusually and perhaps uniquely "complete articulation of an evolutionary developmental K-12 curriculum and creative teaching methodology." its underlying principles continue a pedagogical tradition initiated by Comenius, Pestalozzi, and Herder Its methodology encourages collaborative learning.
Read more about this topic: Waldorf Education
Famous quotes containing the words child development, theory, child and/or development:
“Understanding child development takes the emphasis away from the child’s character—looking at the child as good or bad. The emphasis is put on behavior as communication. Discipline is thus seen as problem-solving. The child is helped to learn a more acceptable manner of communication.”
—Ellen Galinsky (20th century)
“If my theory of relativity is proven correct, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.”
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“The child as a monument to the passion of two people; the will to oneness in two.”
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“Dissonance between family and school, therefore, is not only inevitable in a changing society; it also helps to make children more malleable and responsive to a changing world. By the same token, one could say that absolute homogeneity between family and school would reflect a static, authoritarian society and discourage creative, adaptive development in children.”
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