Organization of learning environment in Waldorf schools. Pedagogical inspirations for early school education

The educational ideology presented by Rudolf Steiner has both ardent supporters and opponents. But without a doubt it can be an inspiration to change the way of thinking about the way the learning environment is organized. Despite the lapse of many years since its inception, Steiner’s pedagogy has not lost its appeal and can provide a valuable source for the construction of modern holistic constructivist education, according to which the student is not only active but also becomes a partner of the teacher in the process of developing their knowledge, skills and socio-emotional resources. The article presents the assumptions of Steiner’s education in the perspective of the two most important areas of organization of the learning environment: the role of the teacher and the methodology of work. Through analysis of the texts, the method of organization of the educational process will be presented, which can be used in elementary schools in grades 1-3.

Empowering Academic Stakeholders through Distributive Leadership

The Philippine educational system has engaged into an intensive strategic collaborative pedagogical setting in which education is not only mobilized by educators and school administrators; but more so with the participation of all concerned sectors of society. Everyone is an academic stakeholder par excellence – family, community, local government units, religious sectors, and private industry partners. Moreover, the focus of this present paper is to put forward a discursive analysis among various academic stakeholders into a strategic leadership framework as contextualized into local academic school setup. The primary argument of this paper is that constructivist education at least in the Philippine context is interpretatively structured into a distributive type of academic leadership wherein leadership is primarily decentralized yet collaboratively distributed among primary and secondary stakeholders. Hence, this study is advancing a principle of “distributive leadership through stakeholder mobilization”.

Constructivist Learning in University Undergraduate Programmes. Has Constructivism been Fully Embraced? Is there Clear Evidence that Constructivist Principles have been Applied to all Aspects of Contemporary University Undergraduate Study?

This conceptual paper provides an overview of constructivist education and the development and use of constructivist principles in contemporary higher education, outlining constructivism and some specific facets of student-centred learning. Drawing from first-hand experience and using two examples of current university assessment practice, reflective learning, and learning outcomes, the author argues that, despite claimsconstructivist pedagogical approaches have become normative practice, when it comes to assessment processes, constructivism has not been fully embraced. The question ‘is there clear evidence that constructivist principles have been applied to all aspects of university undergraduate study?’ is considered. This is important and significant and should be of concern to all educators who espouse constructivist principles in higher education.