Conflict Resolution at Waldorf Schools

[rachelernst]

I will be visiting the 3 Waldorf schools of the Minnesota Twin Cities in early April. I will be deciding whether one of them will fit our family, and compare them to Friends School of Minnesota, one charter Montessori and the Cannon River STEM school.

My question pertaining to Waldorf (many), first of all, is: What are the commonalities and differences between various Waldorf schools as to how conflict resolution is taught/handled. Two of the schools are AWSNA.

What other criteria could I use to compare one Waldorf school to another? What would you look for?

Rachel
trying to get up to speed quickly.

[orangewallflower]

You mean among kids, right?

It really isn't commonly taught in a Waldorf grade school. Waldorf teachers are trained to deal with conflict on a spiritual plane, but not directly with students.

[orangewallflower]

Oh, but someone hopefully can talk about Kim Payne who is a consultant that helps Waldorf schools with conflict resolution. I don't know anything about his approach except that it is Waldorf oriented. Hopefully someone has some details!

And one more thing: the culture of a class from 1st grade is really defined by the class teacher, so the most important thing would be to ask the teacher you child is going to have. In the nursery/kindy level, I would say that redirection is the best way to describe what they do.

[tigermiep]

hi, rachel! We talked on the phone the other morning (I'm at one of the three schools in MN!), and I know that all three schools have worked extensively with Kim Payne. The two larger schools have been able to better integrate his work, as it relies heavily on the 8th grade class leading the way for the other children. Our little school has worked with it in the past, and still is incorporates some of his methods, ideas, and solutions. I work very directly with my students, as do more and more Waldorf teachers, realizing that it is part of our work to help the children learn these skills as well.

Orangewallflower is right in her assessment of the early childhood approach, and teachers also help older kindergarten children to work through situations a bit more directly. I'm sure that any of the teachers would be happy to talk with you at greater length.