Primary Rudolf Steiner Education:
the Class Teacher years 1-6
Over two-years, teachers and teachers-to-be, in any educational setting, will have an opportunity to develop new skills and deepen their understanding of Steiner/Waldorf education, and gain valuable resources for working with children in their primary years . The course is also suitable for home schoolers and anyone interested in education, personal development and the arts.
Online learning
We will explore human development in relation to Steiner/Waldorf pedagogy, asking the question “how does the curriculum meet the child’s innermost needs at this particular stage of development?”
The evening online classes include a presentation, with class discussion (subject to cohort size), and artistic work woven throughout the course.
The optional face-to-face workshop ‘Sensory Integration – Class 1 & 2 Morning Circle as Therapeutic Work’ takes place here on our campus in Warranwood Victoria on 9-10 May (Fri – Sat). You can check out the details HERE.
This course is conducted in English and is open to local and international students.
Course content and schedule
Duration: 2 years part-time, four seven-week terms per year, 2 hours per week.
Every Tuesday evening from 7.00-9.00pm (AEDT Melbourne time) .
Course tutors
Tania Hungerford has been a teacher in Adult Education working with Anthroposophy for 25 years. She teaches units including Sculpture, Form Drawing, the Twelve Senses, Human Development, the Four Temperaments, Professional Communication and Conflict Resolution, understanding and working with Trauma and developing inclusive teaching practices for working with children with individual learning needs. Tania has offered many Professional Development programs to Waldorf Teachers in schools around Australia and in Asia.
Tom Hungerford has taught in Steiner Schools for 25 years, principally as a Bothmer Gymnast and Physical Education Teacher but also extensively in the high school in the Hard Crafts. Most recently Tom was a Class Teacher at Sophia Mundi School in Melbourne. At the Seminar Tom teaches Anthroposphical Studies, Pedagogy, Epochs, Pedagogical Drama, Hard Crafts, Festivals, Physical Education and is also a Second Year Student Co-ordinator and Professional Experience Co-ordinator.
Terri McMillan is a teacher of 35 years experience in a Steiner School and 5 years in the State system. She co-founded the Maindample Steiner School (now Mansfield); took two classes through the Primary Class Teacher period, and has been a senior geography teacher for past 10 years. Terri co authored the Steiner Geography Curriculum for the Australian Steiner Curriculum Framework.
Bernadette White is an experienced curative education teacher, class teacher and teacher trainer. Bernadette has had a lifelong interest in the narrative curriculum, history, oral language and the evolution of consciousness as experienced through the literature of each age. The transformative power of story has been a mainstay of her work with her classes over many years.
Rod is the former head of school at Tarremah Steiner School and has been involved in a number of Australian Steiner schools over the past thirty-five years as a Class Teacher and as a High School Guardian and English and Literature teacher, as well as giving talks for parents and conducting Professional Learning for teachers. He contributes to a program of talks to support teacher development brought to schools by the Pedagogical Section, Australia and participates in the National Teacher Educators’ Forum.
Pauline began teaching English Literature and History in secondary schools and TAFE with young adults. Her interest in Anthroposophy lead to Steiner education where she took three classes through the class teacher period.The transformative power of the Epoch stories and storytelling as an art are two of her special interests.
Over the last years she has been involved in teacher training, teacher mentorship and Professional Development days in Steiner schools.
Fee and fee policy
Fee
$480 per term for the online course.
$525 for the weekend workshop ‘Sensory Integration – Class 1 & 2 Morning Circle as Therapeutic Work‘. $460 early bird special if payment is received by 4 March 2025.
Withdrawing and refunds
· If you withdraw prior to course beginning we will refund any fees paid less a $100 enrolment processing fee.
· If you withdraw after the first session of the course, we will refund any fees paid, less $155 administration fee.
· If you withdraw after the second week, no refunds can be given.
Materials you will need
Teaching through the arts is a key aspect of Steiner education. Developing artistic skills and nourishing your own inner life is an important part of teacher development.
You will need to have access to or purchase some art materials. Essential items are:
- the ‘wet on wet’ painting paper and paints such as Stockmar (or other equivalent) which can be purchased from art supply shops or Mercurius online. You could buy one each of red, yellow and blue or if you feel expansive, there is also the set of six which contains two tones of each colour. If you have any questions about this please call our office.
- Flat 18 mm brush for painting
- smooth hand building clay
- large format paper (A2)- suggest a cartridge spiral bound which becomes your portfolio. Otherwise, newsprint or cartridge loose large sheets is fine also.
- Coloured pencils
- Crayons in blue, red and yellow.
- A piece of beeswax for modelling
Term dates 2025
Term 1 (7 weeks):
Tuesday 18 February – Tuesday 3 Apr
Term 2 (7 weeks):
Tuesday 6 May – Tuesday 19 June
Term 3 (7 weeks):
Tuesday 29 July – Tuesday 9 September
Term 4 (7 weeks):
Tuesday 7 October- Tuesday 18 November
Optional Workshop
4-5 April (Fri-Sat) Sensory Integration – Class 1 & 2 Morning Circle as Therapeutic Work
Certificate of Professional Development
Our part-time courses come with a certificate of Professional Development hours, subject to meeting the course requirements:
- Each evening will be live streamed and recorded. We require your attendance of 100% of sessions in order to gain the acknowledgement of PD hours completed AND
- a simple but meaningful assessment task at the end of each term which will be based on some general questions about what you have gained from all sessions completed to date. This is a required step as part of meeting PD standards in Australia.
