The Melbourne Rudolf Steiner School is unlike any school we have visited. The campus is quite unorthodox compared with that of the other schools we have visited. While other schools usually have one or two main buildings, Rudolf Steiner has several buildings in its large campus. Its philosophy is very different as well. Although it is a Christian school, it accepts other religions and encourages its students to get to know a variety of different cultures and religions.
Moreover, the school believes children should learn through being active and being hands-on, as opposed to always sitting in front of a desk all day. Therefore, there are plenty of arts and crafts and music weaved into lessons, educating not only students’ minds, but bodies as well. Also, instead of traditional textbooks, teachers like to use fairy tales to teach young children. It is believed that the morals from these tales are great material to let students learn about life. It is also believed that young children should be taking tests at a young age; as such, the school discourages them from taking tests in primary school. Such a concept is very new to me, because once children have been thrust into primary school in Hong Kong, learning seems to be for acquiring high marks in tests and examinations. Competition is tough as well. However, in Rudolf Steiner, the school children seem to learn through having an enjoyable time. There even are opportunities for them to learn gardening and make mud bricks to construct small buildings.
What made the deepest impression was the fact that although the teaching and learning taking place in this school is so different from that in its counterparts, in the end the VCE results of its students are still comparable to those from other schools. This has made me think about the way students learn in Hong Kong. When students graduate from secondary school, those with high marks in the public examinations are labeled as ‘successful’, but they usually lack creativity and independent thinking. If the emphasis on assessment can be shifted to the actual learning of students, students can still achieve good marks while actually learning things rather than being ‘spoon-fed’ content knowledge.
No comments:
Post a Comment