Mon, 06 Aug 2007

Waldorf curriculum in state school under scrutiny in Australia

MELBOURNE (NNA) – In a development which echoes attempts in California in recent years to have the Waldorf curriculum removed from state schools, a government school in Melbourne, Australia, is undergoing an independent review of the Steiner curriculum taught there after complaints from some parents that it was too religious and did not pay enough attention to reading and writing in the early years.

A Melbourne University expert has been appointed to carry out the evaluation to see whether the Steiner program at the Footscray City Primary School adheres to government guidelines. The evaluation has been made part of a more general review due this year.

According to The Australian newspaper, the government of the state of Victoria had dissolved the school council late last year and, with the interim council, was conducting the independent review of the Steiner curriculum because of divisions among the parents.

The paper quoted some parents as criticising the curriculum, which has been in place for six years, for being too religious, introducing a creationist view of the world and not paying enough attention to reading and writing in the early years.

But Rosemary Gentle, executive officer of Rudolf Steiner Schools of Australia, the umbrella organisation for the independent Steiner schools in the country, told NNA that it was a localised issue only affecting a small number of families at the school. As far as she was aware, the problem had arisen originally from the way that the Steiner stream had been introduced into the state school – a view echoed by comments from a parent.

“The school had a bit of a culture shock and it wasn't handled as well as it probably should have been,” Bo Christensen, whose child is enrolled in the Steiner program, told The Australian.

“It is important to note that the vast majority of parents, in both streams, are happy and the school is doing very well overall,” Rosemary Gentle emphasised.

State Steiner streams had been in operation in Victoria for 19 years and this was the first complaint, she added. “The others have flourished and even at Footscray, enrolment numbers have doubled since the introduction of the Steiner stream. This has been the pattern in all schools where it has been introduced.”

Speaking on ABC radio, John Allman, general manager for student wellbeing and support in the Victorian education department, denied the allegations that Steiner education was occult, religious or spiritualist.

“Certainly there's no evidence that we have that that is the case in terms of the way it is operating in any government school in Victoria,” Allman said.

Allman went on to explain that school councils could decide at a local level whether alternative streams, such as Steiner, should be introduced as an additional option. The only requirement was that the alternative curriculum complied with the government’s policy guidelines. “We don't have a policy specific to Steiner education, but rather for any specialised curriculum that a community may consider appropriate.”

Schools had to meet the secularism requirement in the education act.

A “Steiner-influenced curriculum model” had been in place for many years without a problem. “I think one of our metropolitan schools goes back to 1991, and it's been implemented without any problems or issues at all,” he added.

“Steiner schools are held in high respect overall by Australian federal and state authorities,” Rosemary Gentle said.

There are ten Steiner streams in state schools in Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.

The controversy has arisen in the year that Steiner schools in Australia celebrate their fiftieth anniversary - the first school, Glenæon in Sydney, opened in 1957. Today there are 44 independent schools with 7000 students and numerous playgroups and early childhood centres.

END/nna/cva

Item: 070806-01EN Date: 6 August 2007

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