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International News
from Germany, Switzerland, France, Hungary, Norway, Finland and Belgium
GERMANY
Restrictive School Legislation in Niedersachsen
not conform with EU legislation
The German Land of Niedersachsen may have to revise its restrictive school laws, forbidding children from Niedersachsen to attend a Steiner school in the Netherlands.
In close cooperation with the European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education, Marieke Sanders-Ten Holte (MEP) had asked the European Commission and has now received an answer.
Detlef Hardorp
SWITZERLAND. In the village of Arlesheim, near Basle, the local residents voted by a majority of 127 to 97 to give financial support for all the children from their community that attend the local Steiner school. This amounts to a subsidy of 2000 Swiss francs per child annually.
The Steiner schools were able to raise their profile nationally during the summer. There had been complications in arranging the childcare facilities at EXPO.02 and the Steiner movement were invited to enter into the breach. The city council of Biel assumed all the capital costs and the Federation took on the running of the facilities. Under the supervision of trained Waldorf staff, upper school students took on the care of the small children of the visitors to the exhibition. This was very successful and attracted much positive attention in the media. They were especially fascinated by the playful and harmonious interaction between the young children and the adolescents.
FRANCE. For those that have been following the saga in France the new government has replaced the somewhat discredited "Mils" (see newsletter Summer 2002) with "Miviludes" - Mission interministerielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les derives sectaries. This step confirms a change of attitude towards Steiner schools in France and confers a greater legitimacy to their existence. They are now considered as being organisations covered by the rights of liberty of association and individual freedom. Although the government is not prepared to change the law for the schools regarding funding there is a possibility to work in partnership with the government, on a school by school basis, under the provisions of a Contrat d'Association and thereby seek an element of central funding. The Minister is encouraging the Steiner schools to enter into a dialogue with other educational establishments and authorities, and is also exploring possibilities of a better relationship with the independent sector in general.
HUNGARY. Whereas in France there was swing to the right in Hungary the election resulted in a swing to the left. However the incoming minister has confirmed that he will abide by the original agreement with the Waldorf schools regarding their future funding and independence. After a lot of work the Federation was able to hand in their curriculum by the stipulated date and are waiting a response. Their next task is developing ways towards Quality Care and providing a sound basis for their mutual working together as a group of schools. It seems that the new government is even more supportive than the last one.
NORWAY. For those fortunate enough to have visited the Norwegian Steiner schools the impression has been that this is one of the most Waldorf friendly of countries. And now the situation looks like getting even better. The government is proposing doing away with the term, “Private Schools “and referring to them as “Free Standing Schools” instead. Under new legislation the state’s financial contribution towards running costs would rise from 85 to 90 % and instead of the school having to find their own capital for building the government intends to pay 90%. This summer the Oslo Teacher Education Course was validated at BA level.
FINLAND. The Finnish parliament, after an intensive debate, decided by vote of 127 to 54 to recognise the Snellman High-School as an Institute of Higher Education, thereby paving the way for state financial support for Steiner teacher education. This came about because an evaluating committee reported positively on the quality of the teacher education there. A high placed education official in Helsinki stated that Finnish primary schools had reason to be grateful to the Waldorf schools for their positive contributions and this was also recognised in parliament. The Finnish Steiner schools obtained state funding in 1977 and have continued in dialogue and engagement with the aim of assisting in the development of the whole education system in the country. Children start formal education the age of seven in Finland and the country did remarkably well in the recent PISA comparative study.
Christopher Clouder
BELGIUM The Minister of Education in the French speaking part of Belgium has officially approved the curriculum of the only French speaking Steiner school in Belgium at Court-St-Etienne. This came after more than three years of battle that went as far as the Constitutional Court after a unanimous vote in the Francophone parliament to disapply the national curriculum for this school. The main source of difficulty was the "les socles de competences", which require children to acquire analytical skills at a very early age. This could be a precedent that other Walloon schools could follow.
Programme des études approuvé en Belgique francophone
Le Ministre de l’Enfance de la Communauté française a approuvé officiellement le programme des études de la Libre École Rudolf Steiner de Court-Saint-Étienne le 17 décembre 2002.
Il s’agit d’une étape finale très importante pour le développement de la pédagogie Steiner en Belgique francophone, du moins en ce qui concerne les niveaux maternels et primaires. Dorénavant cette pédagogie et ses spécificités y sont pleinement reconnues par les autorités publiques. Son subventionnement, voire même son existence, ne devraient en principe plus être mis en danger pour des raisons pédagogiques ou philosophiques.
Pour rappel, en juillet 2002, le Parlement de la Communauté française avait voté à l’unanimité un décret accordant une dérogation aux socles de compétences à la Libre École Rudolf Steiner de Court-Saint-Étienne. Ce décret faisait suite à un travail laborieux d’introduction d’une demande de dérogation, ainsi qu’à l’annulation préalable au printemps 2001 du décret primitif instituant les socles de compétences. Ce premier décret avait été contesté à la Cour d’Arbitrage par plusieurs associations et personnes, notamment par la Libre École Rudolf Steiner de Court-Saint-Étienne.
Le travail long et ardu permettant d’atteindre cet objectif a commencé en septembre 1999 et n’a pu être accompli que grâce aux efforts, à la pugnacité et au soutien d’un grand nombre de personnes et d’associations.
Stéphane Lejoly
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