Though This be Madness, There be Method in It!
- Alan Swindell
- Jun 2
- 3 min read
By Alan Swindell, keynote speaker July 2025 All Subjects Conference
A colleague of mine recently plonked themselves down in the staff room and, with a big sigh, said: `I do my best, but I’m not sure I’m Steinery enough’.
‘Steinery enough`! What an expression and what on earth did she mean? She was certainly being creative with her language but I think her real message was not so upbeat. I think it was a cry for help, and a few gentle inquiries confirmed my suspicions.
Despite being a highly respected and very effective teacher this colleague felt that she was falling short in some way, always had been and always would be. I have heard similar expressions from teachers over the years and they all translate to approximately this: I’m not sure that I quite fit in. I think there’s an expectation at this school that I can’t meet. Everyone else seems so artistic/knowledgeable/anthroposophical, I just teach my subject and hope I’ll get away with it! A high proportion of these self-doubters, but by no means all, are subject teachers, without whom our schools would grind to a halt.
Of course the opposite can also be true. There are colleagues who assume that their subject expertise and their previous experience in non-Steiner settings will be sufficient for them to fit in and thrive without any change of approach. When this doesn’t work, such colleagues can become disillusioned and critical of the environment they have stepped into. But if all the subject-experts stepped away and declared themselves ‘not Steinery enough’ how many of our schools would remain open?
I once worked in a school where one group of colleagues felt that they were carrying the ‘true Waldorf torch’ and another group felt that they were second-class citizens, not ’in on the secret’ and forever undervalued. The two groups used different staff rooms and different coffee machines!
Where is the middle ground? We don’t want good teachers feeling inadequate, nor do we want inadequate teachers projecting their own shortcomings onto the school.
Does Steiner offer a solution? First he offers a contradiction. He says that teachers should be immersed in anthroposophy, that a school without anthroposophy cannot deliver the healing education he is prescribing. But he also says that the methods used in our schools can be applied anywhere, and that we will have failed as a movement if, in due course, we have nothing more to show for our efforts than a number of isolated Steiner schools, like islands, in an ocean of ‘conventional teaching’ (my image, not his).
But isn’t that exactly where we are as a movement?
My approach to this dilemma in recent years has been to drill down into the so-called methods of Steiner education. What I discovered came as a surprise.
First the bad news. Some of the most ‘Steinery’, integrated and respected teachers in our schools had lost touch with the methods Steiner recommended, and those who did apply them did so out of habit, without a real understanding of their deeper significance. They were copying a ‘house style’.
Followed by the good news. Some of the less integrated, less Steiner-experienced and less confident colleagues were the ones most likely to be working consistently with the so-called methods and trying to understand what lay behind them.
The above two paragraphs contain Big Fat Generalizations for which I apologize in advance, but accurate or not, I offer them as food for thought. Next time you hear a colleague (or yourself) say `I’m not Steinery enough’ look closer at the methods we are using and what lies behind them. This might lead to the discovery that this education not only offers healing to children, but also to polarized teachers!
Alan Swindell has worked in Steiner-Waldorf education for over forty-five years as a Grade, Subject, and High School teacher, both in the UK and Holland. He was a school Principal for six years, worked for the Steiner Waldorf School`s Fellowship and has taught on several teacher education courses. He has helped pioneer two-and-a-half Steiner schools (two succeeded, one didn`t!) and his four children and two oldest grandchildren are all Steiner-Waldorf alumni. In recent years he has helped develop and deliver on-line courses that have reached Steiner-Waldorf teachers and parents in over 40 different countries.
To learn more from Alan and hear his full presentation "Though This be Madness, There be Method in it!", join us July 14-17 for our Online International Conference for All Subject Teachers! Alan Swindell will be one of several outstanding keynote speakers for this event.
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