THE QUESTION OF COMPROMISE :MEETING THE NEEDS OF TODAY’S CHILDREN
SWSF Teachers’ Easter Conference
Steiner Academy Hereford
2 – 5 April 2013
‘Pupils must never become estranged from contemporary life… right from the start the most varied compromises have to be made.’
Rudolf Steiner The Waldorf School,Soul Economy and Waldorf Education, Lecture VIII Dornach, 30 December 1921
Welcome to Hereford’s first ever Easter Conference! In my summer reading, the words of Steiner quoted opposite stood out as a challenge of great relevance for us today. Now, as then, we live in times of exceptional challenge and an ever-accelerating rate of change. Our Conference hopes to provide an opportunity for us to sharpen our awareness of these challenges and changes and to look at how we are responding to them both as schools and individuals.
‘Compromise’ is not an easy word. We prefer, perhaps, to think of ‘compliance without compromise’. Yet the spirit which allows Steiner to say’ right from the start the most varied compromises have to be made’ is one that springs from strength: from an unshakeable sense of what is and is not negotiable. Our practice can acquire certain ‘beliefs’ or ways of doing things that become embedded, traditional and thereby sacrosanct but are not necessarily ‘of the essence’. So we hope, together, we’ll be able to reaffirm what we experience as those essentials in our daily practice and become more aware of what is of lesser importance, or, indeed, in need of positive change.
So the Conference has two aspects: revisiting what is most essential to us as teachers and Steiner schools, and looking outward to how we are managing the interface with today’s world. Lecture 8, quoted from above, is our recommended reading and the impulse which led to the formulation of our discussion groups.We look forward to meeting you all, to working together – and enjoying ourselves!
David Donaldson Steiner Academy Hereford
To view the Easter Conference Programme please download the Programme pdf document here.
To view the Easter Conference Booking Form please download the Booking Form document here.
To view the Easter Conference Timetable please download the Timetable pdf document here.
