Learning is critical, and it should start at a young age as a child develops towards adulthood. A child needs a proper foundation with regards to education as this has an impact on how they will develop and the type of skills they will have. It thus means that parents should choose the best schools for their children at an early stage of their life to harness their brain and thoughts as they interact with the environment ( Dragana et al., 2017). One of such education program was proposed by an educator, philosopher and a scientist by the name Rudolf Steiner. This kind of education program for the young children up to seven years old is popularly known as the Waldorf schools. This is an education model for children that believe that children should interact with their environment freely through their imagination and fantasy. This is an educational program which beliefs in the unity of the spirit, body, and souls ( Nicol & Taplin, 2017). The prevailing belief is that children should use their cognitive ability to identify issues in their environment and imagine ways of solving it. In this article, the author majors on the Waldorf schools. The philosophies and the unique elements of this model that make it unique from another program such as Montessori are discussed.
Unique elements of Waldorf model
There are different elements which make Waldorf model unique. These are principles of education which this program has to develop that makes it bring up young children in a different manner to others such as Montessori. The first unique elements are the environment which it places the child. This model has a quiet, warm, peaceful and straightforward atmosphere which are all tuned to meet the need of a child ( Fleer et al., 2018). This is a kind of environment which allow for the safety of the child and give them an opportunity to explore and imagine their environments. The second element which is also critical in this kind of model is the rhythmical daily life ( Nutbrown & Clough, 2014). This is a kind of life which is permitted by the understanding what the child needs in her environment. A rhythmic life, in this case, is characterized by quality and quantity of sleep in a decent environment, movements and exposure to nature, this includes walking, running and another kind of movements which exposes the kid to the environments. There is also healthy nutrition which is inclined to get the best nutrients for the child. The last one is caretaking; this is filled with joy and another form of critical issues which can enhance the cognitive developments of the children. The next essential element, in this case, is the encounter with adults. The children who learn in this schools are taught many things, including encountering with the adults to help them learn more about the world. This system aims to enhance the imagination and the thinking of the child. The encounter with adults thus provide the children with an opportunity to know more beyond their school environment. As they are exposed to teachers, parents, and adults, children get to know more about the environment and develop an imagination which is critical in their life. "Waldorf educators strive to create such conscious, collaborative communities around the children in their care and their activity as a part of a worldwide impulse." The last one is enhancements to the adults' attitude in children. This is critical in trying to make a child think like adults. This kind of education subsystem is purposeful to help the child develop an imagination like that of a dolt, which will make them more versatile as they handle daily affairs. This is critical as it will help the children think of their life different and extract meaning out of it.
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Ideas and thinking of creator.
Waldorf model is unique from other programs. It has unique elements and perception which are not shared by another model. The elements of this model may seem to be very similar to that of Maria Montessori. However, the two principles are not similar and hold a different opinion from each other. It is thus critical for the teachers and parents to understand the perception of the creator of the model for them to decide on the best model to give their children. First, though this program believes that a child needs to be exposed to the external environment to learn. Waldorf believe that the act of learning in a child as he or she interacts with environment is enhanced by their ability to fantasize and also imagine on the things they use and the way they interact with the environment. Note, there are famous people who have contributed a lot in the field of education mostly, the early child hood developments. These are figures such as Montessori ( Inan & Inan, 2015). This model is very close to the perception of Montessori. Montessori also shares a belief that students should be given freedom to learn on their own in the environment. She claims that students have capability of learning alone with little guidance from the teachers. The differences only come in between the two since Montessori give little attention to imagination as emphasized by Warlord. This sense, Waldorf education put a lot of emphasis on the child fantasy and imaginations as they learn in their environment. What this model tries to emphasize on is the importance of having or developing problems solving skills. In the 21 st century, it is necessary for the students to develop problems solving skills through sharpening their imagination to the factors which surround them in their environment. According to Montessori (2012), i magination as emphasized by Waldorf is critical in creativity enhancements which is good for a child in the modern world.
Another unique element of Waldorf model, which also need to be critically understood is the fact that it carefully balance academic, practical and practical activities in the class. The primary focus of this model is to stimulate imagination on children ( Whitebread, 2018). The model tries to suppress the behavior of cramming notes and answering the question after which they are forgotten. It thus seek to engage the whole child in the learning process for them to gain skills which will help them later in life. In this class therefore, each and every subject is artistically taught with the help of drawing, movements, music, painting and rhythm. This kind of teaching is critical in the life of the students since it brings to them a sense of lifelong developments, sense of joy and wonder as they learn in life ( Pramline & Samuelsson, 2018). This is the elements which enhances creativity in such students in whatever profession they will take. The creativity elements which this model enhances in the children will help them become flexible enough and adapt to changes in their life.
Impact on my idea
I always believe that an effective method to facilitate proper child learning and developments should be participative. I have always hated the idea of students cramming the content of the books and then use them to answer questions after which they forget nearly everything ( Montessori, 2012). This method has helped in developing a machine like brains which cannot reason beyond what they are given in the paper and what they learn in their classes. I always believe that children can learn by themselves as long as the much-needed freedom is granted to them. They need to be helped to learn in their environments by their parents, teachers, and friends ( Hall, 2015). Further, I always perceive the teachers as figures who should just direct the kids as they interact with their environment. The teacher should guide the children on the right things to do and at the same time, allow them to interact freely with their environment. This model has just extended this idea. The model has it that an environment where students learn should bring out a holistic nature of the children ( Follari, 2015). This model also claims that the children should interact with the environment freely and be allowed to explore the environment in a manner that enhances their cognitive ability. This model has extended my ideas to include the holistic upbringing of the child. I have now noted that the environment which result to proper upbringing of as a child is that which does not only enhances their interaction with their environment as they learn different things but also enhances their ability to explore their environment as they fantasize and imagine what they can do to help them achieve great things in their life.
In summary, Warlord is one of the best models which aim at developing a kid holistically and give them skills which will help them be in apposition to reason as they interact with their environment. What is important to note is that though this model shares some ideas similar to other models such as the ones developed by Montessori, it has different elements which make it unique, and this makes it the best of its kind.
References
Dragana, P., Stanisavljevic, P. Z., & Milan, M. (2017). Humanistic Approach to Early Childhood Education in the Educational Philosophy of Rudolf Steiner. Future Human Image , 8 .
Fleer, M., Chen, F., & van Oers, B. (2018). New Directions in Early Childhood Education Practice: International Developments and Practice Gaps. In International Handbook of Early Childhood Education (pp. 955-966). Springer, Dordrecht.
Follari, L. (2015). Foundations and best practices in early childhood education: History, theories, and approaches to learning . Pearson Higher Education AU.
Hall, A. L. (2015). A Multi-Sensory Waldorf Early Childhood Education Approach and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study (Doctoral dissertation, New England College).
Inan, H. Z., & Inan, T. (2015). 3 H s Education: Examining hands-on, heads-on and hearts-on early childhood science education. International Journal of Science Education , 37 (12), 1974-1991.
Montessori, M. (2012). Education and Peace:(The Clio Montessori Series) . Santa Barbara, CA.
Nicol, J., & Taplin, J. T. (2017). Understanding the Steiner Waldorf approach: Early years education in practice . Routledge.
Nutbrown, C., & Clough, P. (2014). Early childhood education: History, philosophy, and experience . Sage.
Pramling, N., & Samuelsson, I. P. (2018). Pedagogies in early childhood education. In International Handbook of Early Childhood Education (pp. 1311-1322). Springer, Dordrecht.
Whitebread, D. (2018). Quality in Early Childhood Education: The Contribution of Developmental Psychology. In International Handbook of Early Childhood Education (pp. 319-334). Springer, Dordrecht.
