The school where emphasis is placed on the student’s I. The school that gave up using standard textbooks and where the students decide what dimensions the letters should have in the notebooks that they make themselves. The new orientations in education, called also “alternative education”, are promoted in the Republic of Moldova too. In Chisinau, there are two lyceums that promote alternative education: Waldorf School and School to Tomorrow. Another over 80 education institutions use the child-centered program Step by Step. Even if the organizational form and content of the programs of study in these institutions differ, the end results should be in line with the curriculum worked out by the Ministry of Education, which is mandatory for all the education institutions.
Lyceum where exam is a theater play
The Waldorf pedagogical theory is the first alternative education current that was bright to Moldova from Germany in 1992, by teacher Liviu Dascal and his wife Sanda. The news of the appearance of such a school spread swiftly and parents who wanted to take their children to this school appeared as swiftly. “The essential difference between Waldorf as an educational alternative and the traditional school is that the first has a well-defined theoretical-methodological basis, while the second does not,” said Liviu Dascal.
The process of studying at Waldorf is structured around modules called “epochs”. During three-four weeks, which is an “epoch”, the students study one main subject. The main course lasts for 110 minutes. It is held without breaks and has a special form. For example, at the “epoch” of the Romanian language, first graders study letters. A letter is studied during three days. The teacher tells the children a tale about the studied letter and images from this tale are shown on the blackboard. The children receive the first grades at the end of the fourth grade, in the primary education graduation exams in Romanian and math. In secondary education, the students already receive grades, but besides these the teachers produce personalized characteristics for each student where they describe the made progress and the encountered difficulties.
“The Waldorf School means 12 years of studies and is finished with a play put on by twelfth graders. Each student finds their role. One writes the script, another one makes the costumes, while the third plays parts. It is a kind of exam for them,” said Liviu Dascal. A student integrated into this alternative education system attends courses that develop creativity, such as dancing, music and literature. These are designed to develop students’ intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual abilities so as to help them become individual and responsible adults. The institution is also open to children with special educational needs.
The Waldorf lyceum is financially supported by the Ministry of Education, as the other education institutions are, but the parents annually contribute a tax of 1,500 to 2,000 lei. Liviu Dascal said the education alternatives survive with difficulty in the Republic of Moldova. In this regard, the institution made particular compromises. One of them was to introduce grades, at the request of the Ministry of Education. The lyceum has over 300 graduates of the secondary cycle and over 120 graduates of the lyceum cycle. About 90% of the lyceum’s students of the previous classes continue their studies at universities. “When the human is educated according to the principle of freedom, in the democratic countries this feels comfortable and usually achieves good results. We teach them to be free and powerful as this is important. They understand that responsibility for each action, both by words and by deeds, is the key to freedom,” stated Liviu Dascal
Alternative education lays emphasis on equality
Ion Gutu graduated from the Waldorf lyceum in 2010. He said the studies there helped him look at things from different angles and feel freer and more confident. He noted it was very strange for him when he, after graduating from the lyceum and entering the college of medicine, went into the class and went to the teacher to greet her by shaking her hand, but the teacher looked at him as if something unordinary happened. “I saw another difference between ordinary education and alternative education when the Romania language teacher invited a girl before the class to explain something and this said that she didn’t do the homework. The teacher started to shout and to hit the chalk against the blackboard. I stood up and asked her if this would change the situation. The teacher looked at me very astounded and didn’t know how to react. She probably didn’t meet such kind of student-teacher interaction earlier and allowed the girl to go to her place,” related Ion Gutu.
According to him, the differences between the two education systems start to appear in the primary classes. Compared with classical education, alternative education is characterized by equality between persons as everyone respects each other. Equality is present also in the teacher-student relationship. “In the fourth class, we wrote with a pen and ink from an inkpot and wrote in our big notebooks. Each page of the notebook had to have by a drawing in the margin. That drawing was mandatory and we made it ourselves and competed in making the best drawing. I now understand that the activity helped us develop creativity. The meetings with parents centered on the development of children, not on the collection of money for paint and presents,” stated the young man.
Ion Gutu said that if he was a parent, he would enroll his child in an alternative education system so as to allow this to find himself as many young people do not understand now what they want and do not know what to do next, after the university, and seem to be lifeless when you look at them and discuss with them.
Framework plan is mandatory for all institutions
Head of the Preuniversity Education Division of the Ministry of Education Valentin Crudu said that regardless of the knowledge transmission methods, the end results should be the same for everyone. “We have a framework plan that is mandatory. This cannot be as you want. If we speak about particular contents, yes, as a teacher, in your course you can include other contents that are not indicated in the curriculum. You give them something extra as you are the main player. But if your subject is called universal history and history of Romanians, you cannot divert and teach other history or teach something else in the Romanian language course,” stated Valentin Crudu.
He admitted that the demand at alternative education schools is big, but considers that this is rather due to the fact that these are well located geographically. “The Waldorf School and the School to Tomorrow are situated in crowded districts. It is suitable for the parents to enroll their children at a school near the home,” said the Division’s head. The Ministry of Education does not have the right to impose a classical or an alternative education system on parents. “The parents decided, the parents chose, the parents are probably satisfied with the teaching at these schools based on alternative programs. We, for our part, try to fulfill our duties by approving the framework plan, by working out different methodologies in support for the teaching staff,” stated Valentin Crudu.
According to him, the general schools are open to innovation. During three years, grades haven’t been given in the primary classes. “We intend to extend the discussions to cover also the secondary and lyceum levels, where we could suggest excluding grades for a number of subjects such as musical education, plastic arts and technological education that are related to the student’s I. These areas go more to vocation and grades should not be given in these,” said Valentin Crudu. The Ministry of Education intends to put the new ideas into practice until 2020.
Sabina Rebeja, IPN
