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«If we want to help a child or young person, we should start from their abilities and not constantly emphasize their difficulties.»

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The participants in the colloquium on the work of Educational Support in Waldorf schools from October 27 to 29 had a variety of professional backgrounds-class teachers, therapists, educators, curative teachers, artists. They came from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the USA to participate in this discussion. Each described priorities in their work including: Extra Lesson sessions for individuals, small groups and/or full classes, artistic therapy in – or outside of school, and academic – based support including plans to provide accommodations/modifications for equal access to curriculum, to name a few. Despite priority differences, all participants agreed upon a range of common convictions, which are expressed, among other things, in the opening quote.  

The aim of this meeting of educational support teachers was two fold:

1) to enter into an exchange about the needs of children with learning and developmental difficulties

2) to consider how to organize an ongoing dialogue to accommodate more participants within the professional group and to move forward into the future with other pedagogical professionals.

During the discussion, it became clear that job descriptions varied from one participant to the next and, in order to come together on a clear definition or representaton of what is meant by «educational» or «learning support» in Waldorf schools, a differentiation between classic «tutoring», therapeutic and curative work, and the work of the educational support teacher was discussed. The educational support teacher’s work is aimed at perceiving a developmental picture of the child through his/her/their sensorimotor system functioning to offer support for the individual development process. This work aims to address the foundations for learning through support that helps the child to remove hindrances to better access natural faculty for learning.  

To distinguish remedial educational work from medical-therapeutic support, the group referenced Steiner's lecture of 16.1923¹ that states, «Education must have something of healing.»² Educational work takes place between the two polar forces: the upper human being (the senses) and the lower human being (the limbs and movement). In the second teacher meditation that Rudolf Steiner gave at the end of these three lectures, this formula was reaffirmed. In comparison, the prescription of medication and the implementation of medical therapies are the exclusive tasks of doctors.

The descriptions of educational support situations in various countries revealed the following: In Spain, educational support is included in Waldorf teacher training courses – based primarily on the work of Audrey McAllen.³ Many Waldorf schools in Spain provide educational support for their students, where the support teacher is expected to complete additional training. Therapeutic support, on the other hand, is offered outside the school by independent service providers. In the other countries represented, educational support was less clearly organized and could vary from place-to-place, and sometimes, school-to-school. In Germany, many Waldorf schools have at least a small post for learning support, although not all have had qualified training, and sometimes no Waldorf training at all.

Nevertheless, educational support education has only a small place, if any, in the programs of the training centers. In Switzerland and France, the state pays generously for tutoring or learning support, but only in state schools. Therefore, the educational support of which we speak exists at Steiner schools only in exceptional cases, often implemented only by the class teachers themselves doing their best despite a lack of a stringent concept and collegial support. However, it was noted that the first grade entry and second grade screenings are relatively well-organized in many places, offering potential for identifying student support needs.