Training for Schools
Training for Organizations

Training for Schools

Teaching with Creative Discipline

 

“ Are we merely ‘teaching’ children …..
or are we ‘engaging’ them? ”

Children are potent seeds (precious, resilient and yet vulnerable) requiring ‘nutrition’ and protection appropriate to their stage of development. Their childhood and adolescent health, on all levels, will largely determine their adult health.

They are not empty vessels that need to be filled
with ‘imposed discipline’, 'educational information' and 'entertainment'.

If the inner 'organs' are not able to 'digest' what is forced into them then it will be like poison to them, regardless of any apparent social, economic or academic success.

When teachers and parents are empowered with the clear guidelines of age-appropriate ‘Creative Discipline’ they have a way to diagnose and evaluate the needs of each unique situation with a child or within a group of children, and insights for engaging the children in ways that both nourish the children and the role of the adult.

Conflicts and crises that once exhausted both child and adult carer become learning opportunities for all concerned: even opportunities for deeper connection.

The creativity that is called out spreads beyond the so-called disciplinary needs and comes alive in other aspects of the learning situation, and this mitigates against child apathy and aggression, and against parent/teacher burnout.

Above all, children who have been labeled as ‘problem children’, (even if only in the minds of their teachers and their family), can really blossom under the creative nurturance and protection of this approach. Their so-called problems are seen from a new perspective and with their new tools the teachers and parents can enjoy discovering the potential of children that were otherwise marked for failure.

Teachers who have become jaded by their frustrations with children can come to a ‘second wind’ of enthusiasm for their vocation.

The Creative Discipline tools are very specific!!!

They are challenging because they ask us to tap deeply into our authenticity, our ability to be truly present and creative (and not fall back on formulas)…. but they are quite specific. The generalizations and abstractions that often leave teachers and parents bewildered are overcome by the clarity of the guidelines, and yet the freedom of the teacher or parent is still respected and needed in the implementation.

The Creative Discipline approach is the foundation for teachers in the International Waldorf Schools as well as in the Steiner-based Curative Centers such as the Camphill Community, and the results are recognized throughout the world, so much so that many public/government schools in Australia and elsewhere are adopting these methods in special ‘Waldorf-inspired’ wings attached to their mainstream schools, or in the usual classes.

Graduates from Waldorf schools are famously headhunted for their overall abilities both academic and social, and are listed as CEOs for some of the biggest corporations in the world.

The fears that some people have that Creative Discipline and ‘real life’ don’t mix has been proved unfounded. When we relate to the child appropriately according to the child’s real needs then we prepare the child for the ‘real’ world. Scolding teaches through fear and shame and these do not strengthen but weaken the child’s deeper life. Fear inspires obedience or rebellion, not inspiration or true individual initiative.

Synopsis of Workshop

1. Introduction to the concept of ‘Creative Discipline’:
its origins in Steiner- based Child Development & (Waldorf-inspired) Education.

2. The 3 childhood Phases of Lifespan Development

• Birth to 7 years old
• 7 to 14yo
• 14- 21yo

3. The main claims of ‘Creative Discipline’

• Creates a healthy and effective Learning Environment
for teachers and pupils.

• Nurtures ‘Goodness, Beauty & Truth’ in the child.

• Sets foundations for their adult physical, mental, emotional
& spiritual health.

• Creates warmth of relationship bonding between children & adults

• Offers an age-appropriate understanding of what works in
supporting a child’s development.

• Addresses the bigger picture of social benefit: prevention is
preferable to ‘cure’.

• Offers a path of inner development for the parent or teacher

4. The practical method of ‘Creative Discipline’….. … ‘What and How and When’.

• The Key Concepts:

The 7 Learning Stages & the link to Creative Discipline.
Awakening to the world (‘The 12 Senses’)
True Discipline? (‘spare the rod’ etc)
Constructive
Guiding
Consistency
Corrections Now
Imitation, Revered authority, Mentors
Recreating the ‘Form’
No to “no”
Clear messages & limited choices
The magic word “May…”
Sharing? Borrowing? Taking Turns?
Healing Actions
Violent Play
Consequent Action
Dropping ‘it’ & Starting Over
The adult as the pivot point

5. Factors that work cooperatively with ‘Creative Discipline’ in engaging children:
play, craft, art, story telling and nature.

6. Questions and recap and closing

Linda will tell stories throughout from her experience of working with children, by way of illustration

Participants will have a chance throughout to ask questions and discuss cases from their work life, time allowing.

Training for Organizations

Group / Team Facilitation

 

“ People seek change, intrinsically….Learning happens the minute you
start thinking about it, and put it into action.”

| Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline

This quote by Peter Senge differs from a common assumption that people resist change and only contemplate change if a problem gets BIG ENOUGH.

Whether we are part of a group’s life as a facilitator or a participant in other ways we face a challenging and ongoing learning task.

How do we function as a group for the purposes for which we have come together and yet include the autonomous needs of each individual?

Anthroposophy offers a picture of human relationship dynamics that now guides the work of many facilitators responsible for group dynamics from giant, global corporations to the smallest organisations and groups.

As with all pictures from Anthroposophy, there is a dimension of human activity that lives beyond the reach of our every day senses.

Working with these pictures, we will explore a dimension of group work that is not addressed in the usual academic texts on Group Work.

• What is the special task of group life that is particular to our times?

• What is the hidden life of a group, of any size, that operates behind the scenes and needs to be taken care of in order for a group to flourish?

• What are the phases of group life, and the challenges and opportunities they pose?

• What part do the inherent social and anti-social forces in any group play to both challenge and enhance group life?

• What can groups do to include these inner dynamics and work with them for group benefit and the benefit of society as a whole?

“ Group life and group health [are] the outcome of a warm and
tolerant concern not just for the members, but for the group being
in itself, and a reverent and attentive relationship to the higher
being, working and living in the group”.

| Rob Gordon (Trauma Counsellor)