Sarah Rose, Richard Jolley & David Galbraith Staffordshire University Arts as Central to the Curriculum: Pupils’ & Teacher’s Experiences of Steiner Education Sarah Rose, Richard Jolley & David Galbraith Staffordshire University

Overview Introduction to Steiner/Waldorf schools Steiner/Waldorf curriculum Role of art in the curriculum Survey study Conclusion

Introduction to Steiner /Waldorf schools Based on the ideas of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) First Steiner/Waldorf school opened in 1919 Focus on education the whole child Mind, body and spirit Whole school curriculum, age 3- to 19-years-old Nearly 1000 schools worldwide, 32 in the UK

Curriculum Overview Kindergarten (4- to 7-years-old) Learn through imitation Focus is on play & imagination, Lower school (7- to 14-years old) All subjects are introduced through artistic mediums Same class teacher stays with the children throughout Upper school (14- to 18-years old) Taught by subject specialists All subjects taught no narrowing of curriculum due to GCSE choices

Art in the Curriculum Kindergarten ‘Painting time’ wet on wet painting Block crayons and good quality paper available Encourages respect for materials, no instruction on content or style given.

The Role of Art in the Curriculum Lower School Form drawing Learning the letters of the alphabet Illustrating stories and ‘new’ ideas and concepts

The Role of Art in the Curriculum Lower School Teacher draws examples, works of arts displayed in classroom Painting lessons (wet on wet) Around age 12 drawings lessons introduced

The Role of Art in the Curriculum Upper school Taught by art specialist Art history introduced to the curriculum Detailed copies made of works of art Wide range of materials introduced

Outline of Current Research Aim: to investigate the attitudes and practices relating to children's drawings from children themselves, their teachers and their parents in Steiner schools Method: Survey methodology Structured interviews with pupils and teachers Questionnaires completed by parents Participants: 80 Steiner pupils (age 6- to 16-years), 40 of their parents and 5 of their teachers Data analysis: Content analysis/Thematic analysis for open ended items Descriptive statistics for closed items

More Details of the survey The following issues were covered: Children’s drawing behaviour and attitudes Drawing values (what makes a good drawing) External help children receive with drawing Benefits of drawing and art education Issues surrounding age related decline of drawing Preliminary findings Findings will be compared to those from previous National Curriculum research (Burkitt, Jolley & Rose, 2010) and newly collected data from 16-year-old National Curriculum Pupils

The Amount of Time Spent Drawing In an ‘average week’ at school at home

Enjoyment of Drawing

Drawing Ability

Help Provided To Children: Parents From parent’s reports 65% praise and encouragement (36%) 30% providing materials (5%) 28% share in drawing activities (19%) 28% state that parents shouldn’t interfere (8%)

Help Provided To Children: Teachers Steiner Understanding of colour Understanding of materials Shading Developing skill in drawing simple forms National Curriculum: Setting expectations through instruction and demonstrations Skills teaching tends to be biased towards representational drawings

Importance of art education within the school curriculum From the parents’ questionnaires On a 10 point scale (10 being very important) Parents’ mean rating was 8.8 (std. 1.2) National Curriculum = 6.84 (std. 1.8) Saw art education as being important for: 65% expression and communication (37%) 48% development of thought, learning and understanding (20%) 35% creativity and imagination (21%)

Reported Benefits of Drawing From the parents’ questionnaires 65% expression/communication (46%) 57% pride and satisfaction (49%) 43% relaxation and enjoyment (33%) Teachers Steiner Freedom of expression, means to communicate Develop their own understanding of new knowledge National Curriculum Expression of feelings, development of motor and physical skills

Implications and Conclusions While children are still being taught art at school they report more positive drawing attitudes and practices Parents at Steiner schools value and support the arts Gave more in depth responses Provision of materials for drawing Teachers at Steiner schools talk more about artistic skills and techniques Less talk of meeting expectations more talk of self development Greater integration of the arts Belief that the arts develop learning and understanding in all subjects

Conclusion An arts rich education Teachers and parents value the arts for its own sake and also as part of the learning process Drawing for learning The process and the outcome are valued This research is still ongoing Differences between National Curriculum and Steiner Focus on materials, quality and ‘age appropriate’ Teachers own ‘uninhibited’ experiences with art