An Enlightening Visit

For a teacher, a visit to another school always brings in fresh ideas and perspectives. This week I was privileged to visit a very special school indeed, a Waldorf school in Hyderabad, India. It is one of those schools where, as soon as you enter, you are aware of a tangible atmosphere or energy and, by the end of the visit, you feel slightly changed in some way. This school radiated a distinct feeling of calm and happiness and both the children and the staff welcomed us with smiles and openness.

The school environment is set up so that the outside spaces seem to be the most important. Classrooms look outwards to the greenery seen through every door and window. Each of the built spaces is linked by green areas; plant- and flower-lined paths and archways inviting possibilities, and shady play spaces under the canopy of trees. Students share their grounds with livestock including cows, rabbits and chickens.Throughout the day the air was filled with the chatter and laughter of children given freedom to play and learn and just to ‘be’. Children are given a lot of time and space to follow individual pursuits. We engaged with some Grade 3 students at free play time and saw how they were involved in a variety of self-chosen activities, one was building a wooden model, another practicing her recorder, while some others had got hold of some ribbons and were choreographing a dance. A few were sitting outside the room simply chatting. 

The kindergarten teacher kindly let us sit in and join in with her class and it was here that I felt my educator horizon expanding hugely. Over the morning with this group we saw the children engaged in a variety of activities, some adult-facilitated, such as the beeswax modelling, singing and story-telling and also the free play time in which children engaged themselves in self-chosen play. The teacher spoke very few words during this time but invited children to transition between activities with gesture and song. Most of the time she and her colleague hummed, simple melodic fragments with notes based around a fixed tonal centre and (though more research into this is required on my part) seemingly emphasising the interval of a fifth. This humming, and the particular notes chosen, gave the classroom atmosphere a kind of warm, ethereal feel and I felt myself becoming balanced and centred.

At no point in this time with the kindergarten (or in the whole day across the school) did I see or hear any teacher reprimand any child; every interaction between child and adult was one of gentleness and care. The teachers exuded a distinct calmness which was mirrored directly in the behaviours of the children. It was interesting to see the way the kindergarten children played in free play time, some engrossed in one activity for the entire session and others moving between activities. Adult intervention was rarely required as children negotiated and shared, moving in and out of each other’s games with ease.

As well as the freedom to play, it was also evident that children were seen as highly capable beings. Tidying-up and rearranging of furniture was done seamlessly with children taking on full responsibility with very little adult direction. The little girl who had placed three long strands of wool into my hands as a open invitation to engage in finger knitting came back to me at the end of the free play session and quietly informed me that it was time to tidy up now. I saw her do so with a few of her classmates too, gently whispering that the session had ended. The teacher, still having maintained that same pitch centre throughout now sung some phrases about making the room look beautiful, while quietly picking up the odd item here and there from around the room as a model. After a story session it was time for children to put their chairs back and it was impressive to see them carry the chair, negotiating three steps down without need of adult support.

Whether I could ever take the plunge and relearn to become a Waldorf educator remains to be seen but I felt that with this brief visit, a whole new way of thinking had opened up for me. I was unsettled by the lack of books in the classrooms and have more questions about when and how does the more cognitive aspect of learning take place. The colleague I went along with, a ex-Waldorf teacher herself, explained that focus in the early years is the education of the heart and soul and less on the mind. I wondered how my young son, a facts freak with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge would find stimulation in such an environment. Would that desire be dampened or would a deeper, more spiritual side of him be unearthed? I’m not sure, but I do feel that even in my short time spent at the school, I could understand that a special place had been created that somehow captured the essence or soul of childhood and that many things can be learned from this philosophy of education.