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Is this true that more pupils from Steiner schools go to universities than from state or private schools?

53 replies

Octavia09 · 14/03/2011 17:27

I have seen these news somewhere and simply cannot believe in it. It was written that Steiner pupils succeed because they start slowly and then develop hunger to studies and thus do better than kids at state schools for example. I thought that Steiner is just a money-making sect.

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colditz · 15/11/2012 08:32

Quite a few of the doubters and critics have first had experience of being educated in a Steiner school, rather than just having a child there. From reviews gather online, many pupils seems to be merely entertained, and have fallen behind the national curriculum to the point where they can't go to another school.

colditz · 15/11/2012 08:34

And I really am only saying this because its relevant - Megans55 is not a good advert for a Steiner education.

cantreachmytoes · 15/11/2012 09:38

Colditz I certainly had no experience of that with my friends who left mid way through, or towards the end. Perhaps that's relevant in the beginning because there is no learning to write before age 6, but HMI reports on my school mentioned that, but also said that by the end, the students surpassed the NC. They said this about the school I was in, not ALL Steiner schools and its important to remember that they are really all quite different, just as all State or private schools are.

I'm not sending my DC to one, so obviously in not a huge fan, but it's not the actual curriculum that's the problem.

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 15/11/2012 09:39

Well I never met anyone at university who'd been to Steiner school!

PerryCombover · 15/11/2012 09:42

Personally, I'm down on the reincarnation angle

cantreachmytoes · 15/11/2012 09:47

Just to add that from my year of about 20 pupils, one's an investment banker (no family banking ties), one's a doctor, one an accountant, one publisher, one joined the army, one works with adults with learning difficulties, one an actor, one a musician one a nurse, one a lecturer, one a leading interior designer, some I don't know what they are doing, some full time mothers and some who are essentially bumming around.

It is definitely an alternative system, but it's not a curriculum that produces people who can't go to university, or undertake other further studies and contribute to society.

seeker · 15/11/2012 09:48

Most Steiner schools don't do A levels.

There is a Steiner crowd in my dd's excellent 6th form- most of them joined the school in year 10 or 11, and in some cases took an extra year to do gCSEs, which gave them the chance to catch up academically. They will, I suspect, all be qualified to go to university if they want to. But not because they went to the steiner school

Selks · 15/11/2012 09:50

Wow some truly spiteful posts on this thread.Confused

HanSolo · 15/11/2012 10:00

It may be a possibility that a higher proportion of those who finish Steiner schools go on to university (pure conjecture as I've seen no figuresd) but I seriously doubt it applies to all those that start at steiner schools.

niminypiminy · 15/11/2012 10:06

I interviewed a girl who had been to a Steiner school for a place on a degree course quite recently. She was bright, enthusiastic, and highly motivated; she had done loads of interesting things at school, including writing directing plays. She was well suited to a place on an English degree (the course I was interviewing for).

However, her exam profile was very poor, and she was applying as a mature student (ie over 21), because she would not have been able to get a place on a degree course at 18. She's doing quite well now, and will complete a degree by the time she is in her mid-twenties.

That's all well and good. It seems clear that this school provided lots of creative opportunities. But what about if your bent is not arts, but sciences? What about if what you are really talented at computer programming? I can't see, from talking to this girl, that her school (though she'd clearly had a good time there)' that the school would have served their needs.

And the lack of formal exams (whatever one may think about the uselessness of exams in principle) did disadvantage her. It was lucky for her that she came to the place I teach, which has a mission to offer higher eduction to adults who may not have formal qualifications. Otherwise she'd have been stuffed.

ChocolateCoins · 15/11/2012 10:09

Some people on here are so rude!

cantreachmytoes · 15/11/2012 23:31

People, please listen, not all Steiner schools are the same. I did GCSEs and leaving exams, took a gap year, then started Uni (top UK Uni and my first choice), just like my friends in State and private schools.

Very true though that not all subjects are offered (but physics, biology and chemistry were at mine, as well as maths, english and arty subjects) and certainly anybody interested in computing would be well served in pretty much any other school system!

PerryCombover · 16/11/2012 10:43

But they are all about reincarnation, right?

LeeCoakley · 16/11/2012 16:55

I think it's true that lots of Steiner school pupils get into the London School of EcoGNOMEics but I don't know about other universities. Grin

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 16/11/2012 16:57

What is Steiner School>

Caerlaverock · 16/11/2012 17:01

Steiner school is for 'creatives' who are terribly embarrassed by their suburban upbringing and yearn to live through their unfortunate offspring

PerryCombover · 16/11/2012 17:04

Who believe reincarnated souls enter children at age 7 when they get their adult teeth

radicalsubstitution · 16/11/2012 17:23

They believe that young children should learn through play.

....which is fine, unless your DS' idea of 'play' is to create a giant traffic jam on the carpet and crash cars into each other. That would not be considered 'healthy' behaviour.

DS would have enjoyed Steiner school about as much as teeth extraction without anaesthetic.

Each to their own - it would not have been for us.

nlondondad · 16/11/2012 18:52

@mortimersraven you said

'Megan is as entitled to her opinion as all of you."

Except that Megan said (her opinion was) that other people were not entitled to an opinion! Unless they had actually experienced a Steiner school themselves.

We can have well based opinions about lots of things we have not directly experienced ourselves. In fact most of the true knowledge we have about most things is not derived from our experience, but our experience of other peoples experience......

restlessnative · 16/11/2012 20:03

ladies - things have moved on for this cult

FanjolinaJolie · 16/11/2012 21:12

my DH is one of four children all Steiner educated.

Only one of the siblings went to University, she is very bright and has now done three degrees.

Other sister dropped out of school failed by the system to recognise or diagnose dyslexia.

One brother completed first year but went no further.

Other brother is a qualified builder

seeker · 16/11/2012 21:15

Grin at Lee.

PerryCombover · 16/11/2012 21:45

Does the devil hide on corners fango?

nanettawoman · 29/06/2017 14:11

Another bit of spin from Steiner schools. See Ofsted reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/117631

JeffreySadsacIsUnwell · 30/06/2017 07:22

ZOMBIE THREAD

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