Polyhedric educational experiences

March 2018

The main focus of this video is the recent development of the upper classes of the Scuola Novalis. The Libera Scuola Steiner-Waldorf “Novalis” is situated in north-eastern Italy, in the pleasant pre-alpine area of Conegliano (famous for Prosecco wine!), between the Dolomites to the north and Venice and the Adriatic Sea to the south.

After several years of stability in the kindergarten, lower and middle classes, the school community (teachers, parents, administrators) decided to work towards the upper classes, revisiting Rudolf Steiner’s original impulse for the education of adolescence and designing new non-selective, inclusive learning pathways through an integrated curriculum of the humanities, sciences, arts and vocational learning, right up to university entrance, further training or the world of work. The two vocational strands are oriented towards Organic and Biodynamic Agriculture, and Eco-biological building and Eco-sustainability.

The choice to move away from the more classical Waldorf Gymnasium-type upper school was determined by our reading of the real needs of young people today, through the endeavour to realise what Rudolf Steiner had originally envisaged as a pathway for the upper classes, and above all because in the area where the school is located there are many flourishing practical Anthroposophical activities. These operate in the agricultural, economic and cultural spheres and are mutually supportive of each other; none is privately owned. While each activity is managed and administered independently, they all belong to a new type of “participated” Foundation, which manages and distributes the financial resources, in an attempt to achieve a threefold social community.

We hope that this video will transmit to you some of the enthusiasm with which our students engage in their polyhedric educational experiences!