Steiner X Dr Luke Fisher has published nine books: five in academic philosophy, two volumes of poetry, and two books of childrens’ stories. Luke grew up in Steiner education, and inspired by vivid story-telling at both school and home, he recalls his imagination being stirred by rich imagery and the power of language. His PhD from the University of Sydney explored the link between the poetry of German poet Rilke and the philosophy of the romantic movement. Luke works as a writer and independent scholar publishing across these seemingly diverse fields. In this episode he discusses the common language of imagination that unites poetry, philosophy and story, a language that he believes takes us to the heart of human creativity. Luke is now a Steiner parent himself, and he begins this episode with a poem he wrote for his daughter as a baby exploring the wonders of her own body: On the Musical Structure of Human Nature.

 For more information about Steiner education: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/⁠⁠

For more information about locations and contact details of Steiner schools: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/schools/⁠⁠

 Teacher education and professional learning: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/events/⁠⁠

 Working in a Steiner school: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/jobs/#vacancies⁠⁠

 Our facebook page is ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/steinereducationaustralia⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/steinereducationaustralia/⁠⁠

 The beautifully performed theme music ‘Libertango’ is played by Esther Abrami and Alexandra Whittingham. 

 Esther’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.estherabrami.com/⁠⁠

 Alexandra’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.alexandrawhittingham.com/⁠⁠

Podcast produced by: ⁠⁠https://piccolopodcasts.com.au/ 

Catherine Pilko is an experienced Kindergarten teacher in Sydney and in this podcast she shares the beautiful first year in a Steiner school that children enjoy in Kindergarten (NSW, ACT), Prep (Qld, Vic, Tas), Reception (SA), Pre-primary (WA) and Transition (NT). Catherine takes us through a typical day, showing the calm, ordered and productive routines that provide a nourishing start to the child’s life at school.  It’s a rich world of learning from everyday life where English, Maths, and even Science outcomes are embedded in practical activities that build independence and personal competence. Self directed play has a central place and Catherine shares touching and amusing stories of the powerful creativity that children can demonstrate when they are allowed a safe and natural play environment. It’s all a profoundly social and character-building foundation to a child’s school journey.

For more information about Steiner education: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/⁠⁠

For more information about locations and contact details of Steiner schools: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/schools/⁠⁠

 Teacher education and professional learning: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/events/⁠⁠

 Working in a Steiner school: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/jobs/#vacancies⁠⁠

 Our facebook page is ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/steinereducationaustralia⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/steinereducationaustralia/⁠⁠

 The beautifully performed theme music ‘Libertango’ is played by Esther Abrami and Alexandra Whittingham. 

 Esther’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.estherabrami.com/⁠⁠

 Alexandra’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.alexandrawhittingham.com/⁠⁠

Podcast produced by: ⁠⁠https://piccolopodcasts.com.au/ 

Emily Collett teaches Eurythmy at two Steiner schools in Sydney. Her own education included a Major Project on Eurythmy in Year 12, but it after an Honours degree in International Studies at Macquarie University that she committed to a full professional Eurythmy training in Germany. Three years of performing across stages and schools internationally followed, before she returned to Australia to become a qualified teacher. Emily reflects on the new art form of Eurythmy and its powerful ability to embody the inner moods of words and music in movement and gesture. In school, students gain inner capacities of coordination, collaboration and concentration. In performance, audiences move inwardly to the beauty and artistry of the words and music as revealed by the Eurythmists on stage. In short, Emily calls it “gym for the soul”.

For more information about Steiner education: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/⁠⁠

For more information about locations and contact details of Steiner schools: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/schools/⁠⁠

 Teacher education and professional learning: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/events/⁠⁠

 Working in a Steiner school: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/jobs/#vacancies⁠⁠

 Our facebook page is ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/steinereducationaustralia⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/steinereducationaustralia/⁠⁠

 The beautifully performed theme music ‘Libertango’ is played by Esther Abrami and Alexandra Whittingham. 

 Esther’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.estherabrami.com/⁠⁠

 Alexandra’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.alexandrawhittingham.com/⁠⁠

Podcast produced by: ⁠⁠https://piccolopodcasts.com.au/ 

Mary Heard returns to Steiner Voices to discuss screens and how to protect children from the dangers of their addictive use. Although the evidence of the negative impact that screen use has on young people is well established, parents can still feel they are swimming against the tide in a society where screen use for children is so widespread. Screens have an inherently addictive quality designed into them, and Steiner schools have always advised parents to first restrict and then manage their children’s use of phones and digital devices. Mary outlines useful strategies that families take to actively manage screen use, so children can grow up using screens in a responsible and intentional manner. Mary is a long term parent in Steiner schools, and is now a parent educator working with the program Simplicity Parenting: her website has many valuable resources for further reference: maryheardsimplicityparenting.com .

For more information about Steiner education: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/⁠⁠

For more information about locations and contact details of Steiner schools: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/schools/⁠⁠

 Teacher education and professional learning: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/events/⁠⁠

 Working in a Steiner school: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/jobs/#vacancies⁠⁠

 Our facebook page is ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/steinereducationaustralia⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/steinereducationaustralia/⁠⁠

 The beautifully performed theme music ‘Libertango’ is played by Esther Abrami and Alexandra Whittingham. 

 Esther’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.estherabrami.com/⁠⁠

 Alexandra’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.alexandrawhittingham.com/⁠⁠

Podcast produced by: ⁠⁠https://piccolopodcasts.com.au/ 

Evan Sanders is Design and Technology teacher at Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School in Sydney. He teaches the artisan subjects where students produce useful and beautiful objects which are so emblematic of Steiner schools. A former Steiner student himself, he values the learning that goes into working with the many different materials in the Steiner curriculum at different ages, from wool, textiles and clay in primary school to wood, metal, glass, stone and more in high school. For Evan, making things is not just about making things. It is also a parable about human development, human resilience and human creativity. When a student makes a useful and beautiful object, they are also making themselves.

 For more information about Steiner education: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/⁠⁠

For more information about locations and contact details of Steiner schools: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/schools/⁠⁠

 Teacher education and professional learning: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/events/⁠⁠

 Working in a Steiner school: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/jobs/#vacancies⁠⁠

 Our facebook page is ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/steinereducationaustralia⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/steinereducationaustralia/⁠⁠

 The beautifully performed theme music ‘Libertango’ is played by Esther Abrami and Alexandra Whittingham. 

 Esther’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.estherabrami.com/⁠⁠

 Alexandra’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.alexandrawhittingham.com/⁠⁠

Podcast produced by: ⁠⁠https://piccolopodcasts.com.au/ 

Megan Hatton has lived and worked in Central Australia for nearly 30 years, becoming fluent in Pitjantjatjara language and teaching in a bilingual school in an Aboriginal community 250 kilometres west of Alice Springs. On moving “to town” with a baby, she began teaching in all the schools of Alice Springs, and was finally drawn to the Alice Springs Steiner school as a parent and teacher for a number of reasons which she summarises as “the feeling, the aesthetics, the calm”. Megan trained in Steiner education and has completed two cycles as a class teacher before stepping up to a leadership role in the school. She tells her story of being drawn to the Centre after growing up in the suburbs of Sydney and travelling the world. Now, having experienced the powerful healing influence that Steiner education can be in the classroom, she looks forward to exploring the role she can play in helping heal trauma more widely, and particularly the intergenerational trauma in her local community.

Steiner Episode:

For more information about Steiner education: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/⁠⁠

For more information about locations and contact details of Steiner schools: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/schools/⁠⁠

 Teacher education and professional learning: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/events/⁠⁠

 Working in a Steiner school: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/jobs/#vacancies⁠⁠

 Our facebook page is ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/steinereducationaustralia⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/steinereducationaustralia/⁠⁠

 The beautifully performed theme music ‘Libertango’ is played by Esther Abrami and Alexandra Whittingham. 

 Esther’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.estherabrami.com/⁠⁠

 Alexandra’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.alexandrawhittingham.com/⁠⁠

Podcast produced by: ⁠⁠https://piccolopodcasts.com.au/ 

What do you do when your eldest daughter comes home at the end of Year 4 and says “I’m not going back!” Bill Wood was training teachers as a Lecturer in the Philosophy of Education when he faced this situation. He and wife Rosemary explored the options and they took a risk in enrolling daughter Joanna in one of the early classes at Mt Barker Waldorf School, a class that became the pioneering class of the high school. It was a risk, but they took the view “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”. So Joanna was in the first class to complete the high school, went on to graduate in Medicine with Honours and is today an Emergency Physician, with her own three children attending the school. In this episode Bill tells this family story and how he was impressed with the way narrative and music combined with main lesson content to create a coherent and rigorous learning environment for a very able child.

For more information about Steiner education: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/⁠⁠

For more information about locations and contact details of Steiner schools: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/schools/⁠⁠

 Teacher education and professional learning: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/events/⁠⁠

 Working in a Steiner school: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/jobs/#vacancies⁠⁠

 Our facebook page is ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/steinereducationaustralia⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/steinereducationaustralia/⁠⁠

 The beautifully performed theme music ‘Libertango’ is played by Esther Abrami and Alexandra Whittingham. 

 Esther’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.estherabrami.com/⁠⁠

 Alexandra’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.alexandrawhittingham.com/⁠⁠

Podcast produced by: ⁠⁠https://piccolopodcasts.com.au/ 

Paul Lawrence is an Australian teacher and musician who for the past three years has been an educational leader of the Madu Waldorf School in Ubud, Bali. But Paul’s connection with Bali started a long time before this appointment. He tells a fascinating story that begins with his first life changing experience as a fifteen year old when he encountered Balinese culture for the first time. His life since then has been bound up with both Bali and with music. As a Steiner parent with his wife Nicole, Paul raised two boys and was a founding parent of the Silver Tree Steiner school in the Perth Hills. As a teacher Paul taught at the Perth Waldorf School for many years, and as a musician, he has widely explored world music traditions. His forthcoming book, Music of the Spheres: A Listener’s Guide takes the reader through the door that music provides into other, higher realms.

For more information about Steiner education: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/⁠⁠

For more information about locations and contact details of Steiner schools: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/schools/⁠⁠

 Teacher education and professional learning: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/events/⁠⁠

 Working in a Steiner school: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/jobs/#vacancies⁠⁠

 Our facebook page is ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/steinereducationaustralia⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/steinereducationaustralia/⁠⁠

 The beautifully performed theme music ‘Libertango’ is played by Esther Abrami and Alexandra Whittingham. 

 Esther’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.estherabrami.com/⁠⁠

 Alexandra’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.alexandrawhittingham.com/⁠⁠

Podcast produced by: ⁠⁠https://piccolopodcasts.com.au/ 

Dr Stanley Tang is not just a Science and Maths teacher at Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School in Sydney, he is also an ornithologist and bird researcher. Stanley began life in a remote village on the Tibetan Plateau in western China where he developed a lifelong fascination with birds, beasts and Nature. Stanley’s journey from a highly competitive schooling system to a leading the at a Steiner school in Sydney…..

 For more information about Steiner education: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/⁠⁠

For more information about locations and contact details of Steiner schools: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/schools/⁠⁠

 Teacher education and professional learning: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/events/⁠⁠

 Working in a Steiner school: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/jobs/#vacancies⁠⁠

 Our facebook page is ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/steinereducationaustralia⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/steinereducationaustralia/⁠⁠

 The beautifully performed theme music ‘Libertango’ is played by Esther Abrami and Alexandra Whittingham. 

 Esther’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.estherabrami.com/⁠⁠

 Alexandra’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.alexandrawhittingham.com/⁠⁠

Podcast produced by: ⁠⁠https://piccolopodcasts.com.au/ 

Anna Wetzel has brought many skills to her work at Warrah Specialist School. The school is part of the Warrah community, a Steiner-based disability service providing accommodation, supported employment, day services and a biodynamic farm at Dural on the outskirts of Sydney. Anna’s life journey has been a rich and fulfilling one, from a small town in Germany to being Principal of Australia’s only school for children with disabilities based on Rudolf Steiner education.

She brings a background as a Steiner school student, a high school teacher of History and Politics (and Blacksmithing), as well as two Masters degrees in Education. Soon she will be moving on to become Head of Student Support Services at Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner school. Anna reflects on her time at Warrah, her lifelong joy in supporting people with disabilities, and gratitude to her Steiner schooling for, as she puts it, “all the skills you learn along the way”. 

For more information about Steiner education: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/⁠⁠

For more information about locations and contact details of Steiner schools: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/schools/⁠⁠

 Teacher education and professional learning: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/events/⁠⁠

 Working in a Steiner school: ⁠⁠https://steinereducation.edu.au/jobs/#vacancies⁠⁠

 Our facebook page is ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/steinereducationaustralia⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/steinereducationaustralia/⁠⁠

 The beautifully performed theme music ‘Libertango’ is played by Esther Abrami and Alexandra Whittingham. 

 Esther’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.estherabrami.com/⁠⁠

 Alexandra’s website: ⁠⁠https://www.alexandrawhittingham.com/⁠⁠

Podcast produced by: ⁠⁠https://piccolopodcasts.com.au/