The power of one (teacher)

the PoWeR

of one (teacheR)

Sometime each year we say a goodbye to a Class Teacher who has come through a cycle with his or her class, and it’s always a moment to reflect on this most distinctive aspect of a Glenaeon education, and of Steiner education as a movement.

dr Steiner suggested that as we emerge from the sense of “oneness” of early childhood, we need a guide to take us into the diverse world that lies before us. Around the age of 7 and 8, as we step out of Kindergarten, the child has a real longing to look up to an authority, a guide, a mentor. Naturally this need can be with us as individuals at different times in life, but this moment at this particular age seems to be a general stage through which children pass. Many cultures take this step for granted in child development, and have arranged education accordingly. In many parts of Europe, Scandinavia in particular, children traditionally stayed with the one teacher for a significant period of their primary schooling. The master-apprentice relationship of the middle ages was also recognition of the need for this authority.

The word “mentor” comes from Homer’s The Odyssey of ancient Greece: the hero Odysseus places his son Telemachus in the care of his friend Mentor who guides the growing boy while his father is away on his adventures. This ancient origin gives an indication of the “mentor” qualities that we look for in the Class Teacher: a relationship of care, guidance and support, over time. Dr Steiner describes the class teacher’s relationship to the growing child as one of “loving authority” which suggests the two aspects of warmth and form: » warmth: providing a warm, secure relationship of trust and support; » form: someone the child can look up to and who provides a sense of direction and guidance.

As the children grow and change, the relationship changes as well over the years. From the all-embracing, 3rd parent-like relationship of Class 1 and 2, the child moves to a secure sense of someone to respect, trust and look up to over a long period. And there are many other teachers: Craft, Languages and Eurythmy, then Sport, Library and Music teachers as well. There is no sense of all the eggs being in one basket, that the Class Teacher is the sole authority through the primary years: in fact we became a little alarmed earlier this year when we discovered that one class has nine different teachers for the variety of subjects that we offer. Within this diversity the Class Teacher provides

a secure and continuing focus to the growing child, the “still centre of a turning world” to quote T.S. Eliot.

This “still centre” gives great security. We would never claim to be the best teachers, let alone the best human beings: but we are there, for the child, as a continuing presence, to begin each morning’s work, and to conclude each afternoon with a handshake and a farewell word. Most importantly we are there at the end of a school year, and the child knows we will be there at the beginning of the next year. At Glenaeon there is not the insecurity about “next year’s” teacher. At a time in the child’s life when that security is of paramount importance, we provide just the right amount of continuity while change is always coming.

And change it does: around Class 6 the Class Teacher moves from being seen by the children as the allknowing authority to be more a “tour guide”. Instead of instructions that start “Now what we are going to do is…”, there is a move to “How about we look at …?” The once infallible authority becomes questioned: in the early years there is immense security for the child to have a sense that our teacher “knows stuff”, and maybe even everything. Now as we approach the teenage years in Class 6 there is more power in the child/young person questioning for himself or herself, and the teacher models a questioning, open attitude.

Finally there comes closure to the relationship: in years 7 and 8 the Class Teacher steps back and subject teachers take charge of their individual disciplines: each subject in the high school is taught by a fully qualified specialist with a degree in his or her discipline. But the young person of 13 and 14 still needs a home base and the Class Teacher is there to be that bridge into the burgeoning independence of the adolescent world.

Sometime in Year 8 there is a hand over: the Class Teacher passes over to Guardians who take on the pastoral care of the class from Year 9 up to Year 12. The Guardian may not teach the class at all, but they are there at the beginning and end of the day, and they are the main point of contact between parent and school. The “one” relationship of the Class Teacher and the child has metamorphosed into many relationships with teachers, each one now based on an authority as a subject specialist.

At the end of Term 2 last year Sophie Forman said good bye to Class 8, a class she had guided so admirably since Class 1 in 2003. Her class community of students and parents gave her a beautiful farewell, celebrating the journey they had undertaken together.

Sophie taught the class with a wonderful combination of depth, rigour and artistic richness: her work with the Main Lessons was particularly painstaking in developing imaginative perspectives that will provide inspirations for her students throughout their lives.

Sophie took some well earned long service leave for the second half of 2010, and then met her new Class 1 on the first day of term 2011. The children said goodbye to their Kindergarten teachers, then walked through a tunnel of Class 2 children singing a welcome song before greeting Sophie, their new teacher, at the door of their new classroom. A new journey begins! 

...the Class Teacher provides a secure and continuing focus to the growing child...