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Teaching Observation and Practice are in addition to the time specified for general seminar work. Observation can be spread out over a period. Teaching practice is normally in blocks of not less than three weeks. Both observation and practice are mandatory. They are arranged in recognised Steiner or Waldorf schools.
The teacher-training certificate stating that the course has been satisfactorily completed is endorsed after a successful
year's Waldorf teaching, thereby becoming a full diploma. Course completion is recorded on the basis of attendance and partisipation. There are no written tests or examinations. The necessary faculties for good
teaching are assessed mainly through practical assignments, week by week. These are designed to give the student practice in necessary skills, self-confidence, the right quality of sensitivity towards his or her own
performance and an awareness of the all-important process of self-development, these being what remain in the classroom situation once the possibility of peer assessment and tutor appraisal (however helpful) has
passed.
For most people, successful teaching requires much careful preparation. The above requirements are minimal. For each child,
childhood only happens once, yet it is the springboard for the whole of life with all its responsibilities. To undertake to become a teacher is both joyful and challenging, though nothing could be quite as joyful
and challenging as teaching itself.
The course does not constitute a training for teaching in Rudolf Steiner Special Schools, for which there are separate
courses and seminars. There are also specialised trainings available for those who have completed a two-year training such as this, for example in spatial dynamics, Kindergarten or Upper School science.
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