Celebrating Rudolf Steiner | A Pioneer of Holistic Thought
Rudolf Steiner was a visionary Austrian philosopher, educator, and social reformer whose ideas continue to shape how we approach education, farming, and the arts. Known for founding anthroposophy—a philosophy blending science and spirituality, as we now approach the 100th anniversary of Steiner’s death on 30 March, his influence continues to be felt across the globe.
At the heart of Steiner’s indications, a radical idea emerges: human development and that education should nurture the child’s human development. Intellectual, emotional, and spiritual growth must go hand in hand. Steiner recognised that children and adults develop in distinct stages and that education should evolve to match their needs—fostering a balance between physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual capacities. For Steiner, education goes beyond memorising facts towards fostering a love of learning and engaging with the world through creativity and imagination. Steiner offered insights into education, giving freedom and responsibility into the hands and hearts of teachers.
Steiner championed experiential learning like storytelling, art, music, and drama, ensuring that learning was deeply engaging. He believed children thrive when they are emotionally connected to the world’s stories and age-appropriate wisdom through their teachers. Meaningful, creative tasks are an essential part of sparking their imagination, wonder and curiosity. Steiner co-created a new movement-based art form, Eurythmy (visible speech), to be humanly enriching and to accompany everyone’s education. Australia embraced this human educational approach first in 1957 in Castlecrag, Sydney. Steiner’s educational intentions quickly gained traction, with Schools opening nationwide.
There are now over 50 Steiner/Waldorf schools and hundreds of teachers across Australia.
Newcastle Waldorf School began in Adamstown in Newcastle in 1980 and soon found a home in Glendale, transforming old turkey sheds and a farmers' home into gardens and classrooms. They contribute increasingly to the Steiner/Waldorf education movement, hosting Intensive teacher training in collaboration with The Pedagogical Section of Australia, which developed the ACARA approved Steiner Curriculum with Steiner Education Australia (SEA).
This curriculum is used similarly to a painter’s brush. The teachers recreate stories, songs and themes of antiquity and the present. This imagination-based environment is where the children can grow ever more deeply and collectively into their own humanity and that of the world. Woodwork, sewing, cooking and gardening complement each class’s developmental journey and establish real capacities and fruitful engagement. The school greatly appreciates the guardianship of the land and cultural stories that the Awabakal and local Indigenous people still offer. Both seek to learn from each other and agree that respect, stories, art and song are the right developmental tools for educating future generations.
Collectively, Steiner/Waldorf schools aim to create little worlds where everyone can be human. It’s this holistic approach—emphasising the development of thinking, feeling and willing (head, heart and hands) that makes Steiner’s educational philosophy truly special. Alumni continue to go into the world, making their mark in theatre productions, agriculture, winemaking, hospitality, biodynamic research, geophysics, mining, the arts, law, education, speech and drama – even government.
Biodynamics focuses on vitality and the health of the farm: soil, moisture, atmosphere and cosmos. Farmers work in harmony with natural cycles and life processes. Instead of relying on harsh synthetic chemicals and heavy machinery, they work with composts and sprays that live within the earth and the locations rhythms, enhancing aromatic flavours and
fragrances.
Steiner’s indications seem to be in every field, still leaving mysteries to attend to. His educational and farming philosophies continue to inspire a more holistic, sustainable approach to both learning and living. His work reminds us that true growth, whether in the classroom, on the farm or onstage—requires more than just knowledge. It asks for a deep respect for life, others and nature, creative deeds, connection, and devotion.
Andrew Hill, a co-founder of the school and CEO of Steiner Education Australia, will speak about Steiner, school alumni, and student experiences in Sydney and Newcastle during March and April.
How can one person bring abundance so graciously into Life?
