1. 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

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

3. Introduction to Steiner /Waldorf schools
Based on the ideas of Rudolf Steiner ( )
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

4. 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

5. 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.

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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

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

12. Enjoyment of Drawing

13. Drawing Ability

14. 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%)

15. 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

16. 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%)

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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