Tue, 07 Oct 2008

Alanus University appoints first professors worldwide specialising in eurythmy therapy and social eurythmy

ALFTER (NNA) – Alanus University in Germany has once again led the way worldwide by creating two new chairs in eurythmy specialising in eurythmy therapy and social eurythmy. That brings the number of professors in the eurythmy department, part of the performing arts faculty, to four.

While Annette Weißkircher will focus on research in eurythmy therapy (also known as curative eurythmy), Andrea Heidekorn’s specialist area covers the subject of social eurythmy.

Prof. Weißkircher started her eurythmy career at Alanus University and then trained in eurythmy therapy in Dornach. She was subsequently involved in developing the Masters course in eurythmy therapy at Alanus University, offered since last year.

Prof. Heidekorn has worked for many years in the eurythmy department at Alanus University and supports students from other departments in interdisciplinary art projects. She also works as a freelance eurythmist, leading many different projects in the fields of music, eurythmy and directing, including with children and young adults.

These are the latest in a series of professorial appointments at the university which has seen an expansion of these senior posts in various departments.

Earlier this year Andrea Sunder-Plasmann joined the university as professor of sculpture and new media, and Steffen Koolmann was appointed to a junior professorship in non-profit organisations. In June, Jost Schieren became the first professor of Waldorf education worldwide.

Together with the appointment of the two eurythmy professorships, the university also announced the first research symposium in eurythmy therapy which will be held in Alfter from 28 to 30 November this year.

Physicians, eurythmy therapists, art therapists and others with an interest in the field will tackle such subjects as “Research methods in eurythmy therapy”.

“The academic side of eurythmy therapy will play a greater role in future in integrating art and medicine,” Prof. Weißkircher said at her appointment.

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Link: www.alanus.edu

Item: 081007-02EN Date: 7 October 2008

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Zero marks for accuracy from German Waldorf School Association for anti-Waldorf book

STUTTGART (NNA) – The Association of Waldorf Schools in Germany has been partially successful in its attempt to stop a well-known opponent of anthroposophy disseminating what it described as “proven false information”.

As a result of an interim injunction granted to the Association by the Stuttgart regional court, forbidding publication of the book in its original form, the publisher Gütersloher Verlagshaus, a subsidiary of Random House, has been forced to publish the “Blackbook Waldorf” (Schwarzbuch Waldorf) by the author and journalist Michæl Grandt with a “clarifying” insert correcting certain statements in the book regarding corporal punishment in Waldorf schools.

Grandt had claimed on misquoted evidence that Waldorf education was in favour of corporal punishment, when in fact the opposite is true.

The Association says there are 120 sections in the 224-page book containing “inaccurate, distorting or factually wrong information”.

The publisher said in a press release it regretted that the Association of Waldorf Schools had been unwilling to take up the offer of a “clarifying meeting regarding allegedly wrong statements of fact, allegations which have in reality in no way been substantiated, and has sought recourse to the courts instead.”

Rainer Dresen, the lawyer dealing with the issue at Random House in Germany, told NNA that the attempt to arrange a meeting had failed because the Waldorf organisation had refused to sit at the same table with Grandt and, furthermore, that the Association had failed to present most of the 120 inaccurate or wrong sections.

But the Waldorf Association countered that it had sought talks in vain with the publisher to discuss the inaccurate sections in the book, including with the author present if necessary, but that the publisher had refused to agree a date before publication or alternatively to delay publication until after such a meeting. A meeting once the book had been published would have been pointless for obvious reasons.

That was also the reason why the Association had not had the opportunity to present its 120 points, it told NNA.

“Since the publisher refused to talk about the problematic content of the book before publication, the executive of the Association of Waldorf Schools decided to take legal steps following a detailed discussion of the pros and cons,” the Association said in a statement.

The Waldorf organisation has sharply criticised the author for his lack of journalistic care and objectivity and points out that ten years ago a previous book, the so-called “Blackbook Anthroposophy” had been withdrawn by its Vienna publisher due to numerous errors.

Grandt himself says that his most recent book was “not intended to be a polemic but a critical study in which both sides, Waldorf representatives and opponents, have their say and that it provides many opportunities for a debate about basics.”

But there was no question of “well-founded criticism” as claimed by Grandt, Henning Kullak-Ublick, a member of the executive of the Waldorf Association, said: “The sole aim of Grandt’s publication is to denigrate the Waldorf movement with bizarre quotes about anthroposophy in order to make money.” Grandt was taking thousands of Waldorf parents and state authorities for fools because they allegedly failed to notice what was going on behind the scenes at Waldorf schools, Kullak-Ublick said.

Key statements in Grandt’s book were unsourced claims, the Association added. Where sources were cited, they were often out of date or quoted wrongly. Recent scientific studies which had shown positive results about Waldorf schools were either ignored or only used in such a way that they fitted into the author’s preconceptions: “He was clearly unable to find any practical examples in Waldorf schools for his absurd claims,” a press release from the Waldorf Association said.

The Association of Waldorf Schools criticised claims in the book that anthroposophy was taught in Waldorf schools. This was “simply wrong and contradicts the most basic principles of Waldorf education.” Waldorf schools were not faith schools: that was also the reason why they were not inspected and approved by the education authorities on that basis but separately as “innovative schools”.

The Waldorf organisation also robustly rejected the claim that school practice in Waldorf schools was in breach of German law.

The book has received mixed reviews. The daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung said that “despite an unpleasantly vain tone and an abysmal style [the book] asked key questions.”

Under the heading “Dilettante on Steiner’s tracks”, the heavyweight weekly Die Zeit commented: “The ‘Blackbook Waldorf’ aims to open the eyes of all parents who have taken a fancy to the alternative Waldorf school. To do so, the author – self-appointed expert in matters of National Socialism, Scientology, Satanism – has closed his own eyes to anything that does not fit into the framework of his conspiracy theory. And that is quite a lot.” The book “proceeds in the most vicious way possible. The facts fall by the wayside.”

END/nna/cva

A review of the book in German by NNA reviewer Wolfgang Voegele (“Abstruses Zerrbild von Anthroposophie und Waldorfpädagogik”) can be found at: http://www.nna-news.org/news/de/index.cgi/2008/09/04#080904-01DE_GRANDT-REZENSION. An English translation will appear shortly.

Links: www.waldorfschule.info, http://gtvh.de/, www.michælgrandt.de/

Item: 081007-01EN Date: 7 October 2008

Copyright 2008 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See: www.nna-news.org/copyright/

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