Wed, 16 May 2012

Promoting economic literacy in Waldorf schools

HARLEMVILLE (NNA) - At a time when the economic events precipitated by the banking crisis in 2008 have led many to question the validity of current economic policies and to look for a more ethical approach to finance and business, a conference in America later this year aims to examine ways in which Waldorf schools can help their students to develop greater economic literacy.

“The economics of Education: Literacy/Pedagogy/Funding”, to be held at the Hawthorn Valley School in Harlemville, New York, from 16-18 August, will provide an opportunity for all those involved in Waldorf education, including high school students and business people, to obtain a better understanding of the interplay between education and economics in an independent Waldorf school community.

Themes covered by the conference will include Rudolf Steiner’s economic thinking in relation to current economic practice and practical aspects of teaching economic literacy. The conference will also explore new paradigms for funding education in a community setting.

The conference is part of the Economic Literacy Project initiated by the Economic Literacy Initiative Group comprising John Bloom of RSF Social Finance, Arthur Edwards of the Centre for Associative Economics and Gary Lamb of the Hawthorne Valley Association.

“Waldorf education is in a unique position to instil a conscious approach to economic life by fostering social enterprise and making visible its financial side as preparation for contemporary life,” the Project says on its website.

Economic literacy in Waldorf schools was already discussed at a meeting in August last year to explore the importance of economic literacy in our time, share experiences of teaching and learning the subject, and “to imagine what steps might be needed to take the conversation further”. It brought together educators, people working in the fields of social finance and economics, young Waldorf alumni, and researchers on topics linked to Rudolf Steiner’s insights. This year’s conference is the outcome of that discussion.

The Economic Literacy Initiative Group has been working on the subject of economic literacy in Waldorf schools for a number of years. The importance of economics has grown exponentially in the twenty-first century, it says. It also believes that freedom, one of the central tenants of Waldorf education, should cover more than just freedom of thought or expression but also economic freedom, and therefore children should be educated on matters concerning economics as well.

In the original proposal for the Economic Literacy Project, the Group states that the aims of the project are to “broaden the view of how economics is taught at the high school level in Waldorf schools, develop a strategy for cultivating economic literacy in high schools” and “establish a teaching framework that includes innovative practices based on Rudolf Steiner’s economic and social insights and questions conventional economic thinking”.

Other aims include being able to “engage teachers and students in a collaborative learning process, support those responsible for teaching economics in Waldorf high schools” and to “create a model approach that can influence more widely how economic literacy is taught at the high school or secondary level”. It has also outlined several project processes through which it will be able to achieve these goals.

During last year’s meeting, the gathering covered areas including the overall theme of economic education, the possible structure of courses and content, and methods that teachers of economics could use. The challenges that might arise were also looked at. There was agreement to create a pool of teaching resources, materials and literature.

END/nna/hva/cva

Link: www.cfæ.biz/elp/

Item: 120516-01EN Date: 16 May 2012

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

Tue, 17 Apr 2012

New MSc in Practical Skills Therapeutic Education

STROUD (NNA) – Ruskin Mill Trust, a leading British charity working with young people with learning difficulties through a pioneering programme of therapeutic and practical education and care, has developed a new Master of Science degree in Practical Skills Therapeutic Education together with the Crossfields Institute Hiram Education and Research Department. The degree is validated by the University of the West of England.

In a brochure setting out details about the course, the MSc programme is described as being designed for professionals in anthroposophic health and social care, curative and therapeutic education, arts, crafts and commerce. It offers specialism in the method of Practical Skills Therapeutic Education.

The programme offers experiential, work-based learning in eight different locations across England and Wales. Furthermore, “individual modular and work-based pathways and subject specialisation is available for professionals who wish to develop their practice in their workplace,” the brochure says.

The Practical Skills Therapeutic Education method has been developed and researched by Aonghus Gordon, the founder of Rusking Mill Trust, and colleagues working within different Ruskin Mill Trust initiatives since 1983.

The programme, which will commence in September 2012, aims to equip the learners with the knowledge, understanding and skills to set up, manage and/or teach in organisations wishing to implement or integrate this method and to develop expertise in integrative and holistic education, care and management for special educational needs provisions.

The value of this approach had been recognised internationally, including the ability to adapt and apply the programme to different areas of work, the Trust says on its website: “This MSc programme, inspired by 25 years of research, development and hands-on application, offers the opportunity to explore and develop a deep understanding of Practical Skills Therapeutic Education and its worldwide application.”

END/nna/cva

Link: http://rmt.org/msc-pste/

Item: 120417-02EN Date: 17 April 2012

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

Radical shake-up of Weleda top management to restore profitability

By Christian von Arnim

BASEL (NNA) - The continuing economic difficulties of the Swiss-based medicines and natural cosmetics group Weleda have led to a complete shake-up of the top management. At an extraordinary general meeting called at short notice at the end of March, shareholders elected a new administrative board after they had unexpectedly demanded the resignation of the previous board. The economist and banking expert, Paul Mackay, a member of the executive council of the General Anthroposophical Society, has been appointed as president of the new administrative board.

In a separate move, Ralph Heinisch, a specialist in restructuring companies, has been appointed as the new CEO after his predecessor, Patrick Sirdey, stepped down earlier this year. The current CFO Patrick Kersting has also left the company “by mutual agreement”. The management consultant and auditor Heinz Stübi will take his job on a temporary basis until a permanent successor is appointed. Mackay is joined by Dr. Jürg Galliker, Dr. Andreas Jäschke, Dr. Harald Matthes and Elfi Seiler on the new administrative board.

In a statement the company said that it was the “declared aim” of the new administrative board president to restore the profitability of Weleda in the short term and to return it to a solid earnings base. “The current administrative board stepped down at the wish of the main shareholders, the General Anthroposophical Society and the Ita Wegman Klinik. A new election was held because Weleda requires an administrative board that can function,” the statement said.

According to figures from Weleda, the company is heading for a loss of 10m Swiss francs (£6.86m, US$10.87m) in the 2011 financial year on anticipated group turnover of 380m Swiss francs (£260.67m, US$413.11m).

While staff at the company have a adopted a wait-and-see attitude despite the uncertainty created by the radical change at the top, an interview with Mackay in the Basler Zeitung newspaper makes clear that the main shareholders had lost confidence in the corporate strategy of the old administrative board or, indeed, saw it as wrong. The important thing was to fully utilise the potential of the company, Mackay said. Weleda needed strong leadership “so that the staff know in which direction the company is heading.” The medicine and natural cosmetics producer was in a slump. Liquidity had to be secured and profitability strengthened. “But the question also needs to be answered as to the way that Weleda is set up,” Mackay told the Basler Zeitung.

Mackay refused to go into detail about how the new strategy would look in concrete terms. It was still too early for that, he said. The current situation still had to be examined. But he refused to rule out anything, including bringing the currently separate medicines and natural cosmetics business units together again. In a policy which had raised concerns among some anthroposophical doctors, the previous management had embarked on a policy of making the loss-making medicines self-supporting without any cross-subsidy from the profitable natural cosmetics. Both had to be seen in a single context, the new administrative board president said in the interview.

Mackay did not want to commit himself either in response to the question whether parts of the company would have to close or there would be job losses: “That would have to be considered very carefully,” he said, “but I cannot exclude anything at this point.”

It is further unclear what effect these developments will have on the worldwide Weleda companies. It was still too early to be able to provide precise information about that, sources in the company said. Mackay, too, left the question open: “We have to look at these things now. We have to ask ourselves in general: what can we afford?”

END/nna/cva

Item: 120417-01EN Date: 17 April 2012

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

Mon, 16 Apr 2012

Sounding the logos - word and music in movement this summer

The Eurythmy Association of Great Britain and Ireland is co-ordinating a public festival this summer to celebrate the centenary of eurythmy in the British Isles. Michæl Mehta from the Association explains what it will be about

ABERDEEN (NNA) - The Festival from 17 to 22 July 2012 will be hosted by Newton Dee Community, a Camphill community set in the wonderful countryside of the Dee Valley just outside Aberdeen, Scotland.

It is open to everyone and will be an opportunity to celebrate what has been achieved in eurythmy, share what is going on at present and look forward to the future. Artistic presentations will be offered each evening by all the major ensembles in Britain - Botton Stage Group, London Eurythmy, Peredur Eurythmy and West Midlands Eurythmy Ensemble - together with contributions from new groups (Grail programme) and individuals.

Daily workshops will be held for all participants, both eurythmists and public, to experience eurythmy for themselves. On each main day a further series of workshops will explore how eurythmy manifests respectively in education, therapy and the social realm. There will also be opportunity for reflection in a number of discussion groups.

At the centre of the Festival will be the daily presentation in eurythmy of Rudolf Steiner’s Soul Calendar verses in English. As the Soul Calendar verses are also celebrating their centenary in 2012, this synergy has provided a wonderful impetus to our preparations.

Some ten groups around Britain and Ireland are preparing these and we hope that the majority of the 52 verses will be able to be shown in eurythmy. To our knowledge this will be the first time that so many will be presented in the English language.

Each main day will start with the Foundation Stone Verse. The recently produced Cosmic Verse Series (Cosmic Measure, Planet Dance, Twelve Moods and A Song of Initiation – A Satire) will open and close the Festival. All together some 90 eurythmists, speakers, musicians and lecturers have committed to share their work.

The Eurythmy Association hopes to welcome participants from the British Isles and around the world. The festival has been timed to allow people travelling to the Summer Eurythmy Festival at the Goetheanum to then travel on to Scotland.

Developed by the Austrian scientist, educator and philosopher Rudolf Steiner (1861- 1925), eurythmy came into being as a new art of movement in the early decades of the twentieth century. Through the instrument of the human body, it strives to reveal the fundamental creative principles underlying speech and music.

Eurythmy began as a new performing art of movement but soon after its inception it found further application in the realms of education and therapy. More recently an additional application has been developed in the social realm working with the dynamics of personal relationships and team building within organisations.

END/nna/cva

Contact: Michæl Mehta, +44 20 7638 3202 or michæl.mehta@eurythmyassociation.org.uk

Booking forms are available at: www.eurythmyassociation.org.uk or www.eurythmassociation.ie

Item: 120416-01EN Date: 16 April 2012

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

Fri, 13 Apr 2012

Biodynamic cordial business celebrates first year

Tom Morrow's is a Devon-based family-run producer of Demeter-certified biodynamic and organic cordials, the only makers of biodynamic cordial in the UK. The business celebrated its first anniversary in January. Here Tom Morrow tells what the first year was like.

TOTNES (NNA) - Our first year has been an exciting journey - we were led through the seasons by the ripening fruit ending up with a unique and delicious product, and sales that exceeded our expectations. We have met and formed relationships with many lovely people on the way. Now we are looking to expand.

Our story began in January last year when we first started making the cordials. Part of our aim was to support local biodynamic growers and get biodynamic produce into the wider public domain, and after several years of pressing our own apples and making jams and syrups from the hedgerow it felt like a natural progression. The biodynamic community is an inspirational environment and we really enjoy working within it, and it enables us to offer a product that has real integrity, from the plant to the finished cordial in the bottle.

We started from scratch, fitting a new commercial kitchen into a barn next to our house and experimenting with lots of fruit and flavours. We registered with Demeter in May 2011, embarking on some rapid learning, meeting growers, sourcing fruit and deliberating over different techniques to extract the best flavour.

We've been able to involve our family in the manufacturing of the cordials and the business, helping to get our children to understand more about where food and drink comes from. As parents at the South Devon Steiner School our whole family have been inspired by biodynamics, and contact with our local biodynamic growers at Velwell Orchard and Cholwell Farm have brought us nearer to this nurturing and sustainable method of growing and gardening.

In the last year we've sold the cordials to local cafes and shops interested in an alternative to sugary drinks and we found people willing to support local producers. We are also reaching out to conference centres, shops and cafes across the country interested in the biodynamic nature of our product. We have total confidence in the superiority of fruit grown the biodynamic way; it simply tastes better and our customers' comments re-enforce this.

We are now looking for more Demeter fruit and we are keen to learn more about bringing the biodynamic method to our processing and preservation.

END/nna/cva

If you're interested in getting involved, please contact Tom Morrow's on becky@tomorrowscordial.co.uk.

Item: 120215-01EN Date: 15 February 2012

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

Weleda chief executive steps down

BASEL (NNA) – The CEO of the Swiss-based Weleda Group, Patrick Sirdey (63), has stepped down from this function and as chairman of the Group management, the company has reported.

According to Weleda, Sirdey retired at his own request on 13 January: “With this step he permits the operational management of the Group at the highest level to be entrusted to younger hands,” the company said. Sirdey will officially take his leave at the forthcoming Weleda AG annual general meeting on 1 June 2012. “On that occasion his great achievements during more than 30 years of service for the company will be suitably honoured,” Weleda said.

The administrative board has appointed Peter Braun, head of the Medicines Business Unit, as interim CEO until a final decision on the appointment of a new chief executive is made in early May, when the result will be announced by the administrative board.

Patrick Sirdey, whose contract runs out on 30 June 2012, will continue to look after the managements in Schwäbisch Gmünd (Germany), Huningue (France), Arlesheim (Switzerland) und Vienna (Austria) until 31 May 2012 as a member of Weleda Group management, the company said. He would further be at the disposal of the company until the end of 2012 in his capacity as chairman of the management at Weleda Huningue as well as for special tasks, and would thus maintain his links with Weleda.

Sirdey was only recently honoured by France with the National Order of Merit, the first time in the history of Weleda that an executive has been honoured in this way. (See NNA report of 12 December 2011).

END/nna/cva

Item: 120207-01EN Date: 7 February 2012

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

A cycle trip to buy a fire engine

The Mulberry Tree Early Years Group in Cromhall, South Gloucestershire, runs a thriving class 1 and 2, kindergarten and parent & toddler group which aims to provide children and their families with an unhurried approach to early childhood. When it needed to expand its premises, the initiative found an unusual new classroom with the help of dedicated fundraisers, as Clare Benson from the project explains.

CROMHALL (NNA) - Since 2001, the Mulberry Tree Early Years Group has provided education for over 150 children and their families from a village hall in rural South Gloucestershire. In the spring of 2011 it became clear that there were a few committed parents who required the choice of Steiner education beyond kindergarten. Thus the idea of a class 1 and 2 was born.

Our motive has always been to provide education working on a not-for-profit basis. What small savings there are, are very small. The site itself has a car park and the idea of using a bus for a classroom began to germinate. But instead of a bus, something much more interesting came along: a former Fire Services Command vehicle (strictly speaking, classified as a fire engine). The reason we ended up with a “fire engine” was because buses are more difficult to insulate. The fire engine is a cross between a panel van and a bus. It was sourced through eBay, and bought after a series of bids which terrified the buyer and shocked the school community. It is twenty years old and has 11,000 miles on the clock because it was only used for major incidents. It is still taken out for a drive and cost £4,500, with another £4,000 for the conversion into a classroom.

The financial challenge to collect all the funds to support this endeavour was taken up by all touched by the need to provide this facility. Individuals and trusts have dug into their pockets and contributed to our project. Others have kept us in their meditative thoughts and prayers. Others still have been inspired to take on a personal challenge and be sponsored.

An ex-Waldorf pupil at university ran a sponsored half-marathon, and a dear single parent cycled on the Winter solstice from the kindergarten in South Gloucestershire to Rudolf Steiner House in London with the intention of using 160 miles of cycle paths.

It was a challenge. Her experience wasn't easy because she and her companion found the cycle track to be in such a bad state that, coupled with the wet weather, their progress was slowed down so much that, although they left before dawn, the chance of making their destination during the shortest day began to recede as the sunlight dwindled.

But they persevered and made it to hospitable overnight accommodation kindly offered by a parent at the Alder Bridge Steiner-Waldorf School near Reading, about 50 miles from London. The next day was easier because they had to abandon the cycle track and use the old A4 route and in the afternoon when the cyclists arrived at Steiner House it was quiet and still as the evening light was waning.

I wonder what inner challenge our parents, friends and others who care for the Mulberry Tree will find the courage to do next this year. There is a Michælic quality in those who take up a challenge for the sake of others. There is an inner gesture which to me is kindled by the generosity of giving yourself to a deed.

The Mulberry Tree “fire engine” provokes questions about the siren, blue lights and water hoses. Little children say “fire engine” gently and smile. The sound of rain pattering on its roof gives one a sense of wellbeing as one listens to the outside from inside.

The fire engine engages the imagination. The story ignites delight in people's hearts generating enthusiasm to engage. It's strengthened our community because it gives parents and teachers hope, and inspires courage and grace. Most of all it brings joy and Waldorf education to the class, their parents and their teacher.

END/nna/cva

If you would like to support or help these endeavours, contact details can be found on the school's web site at www.mulberrytree.org.uk

Item: 120216-01EN Date: 16 February 2012

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

﻿Promoting economic literacy in Waldorf schools

﻿New MSc in Practical Skills Therapeutic Education

﻿Radical shake-up of Weleda top management to restore profitability

﻿Sounding the logos - word and music in movement this summer

﻿Biodynamic cordial business celebrates first year

﻿Weleda chief executive steps down

﻿A cycle trip to buy a fire engine

Promoting economic literacy in Waldorf schools

New MSc in Practical Skills Therapeutic Education

Radical shake-up of Weleda top management to restore profitability

Sounding the logos - word and music in movement this summer

Biodynamic cordial business celebrates first year

Weleda chief executive steps down

A cycle trip to buy a fire engine