Beastly Good Schools

Approaching the Waldorf School in Nürtingen from its parking lot, you'll find a gravel path winding its way along. And if you look closely, you'll quickly notice that it's not just children and adults who gather here. Every now and then, a horse dropping or a colorful chicken feather lying around. The distant bleating of a sheep reaches my ears through my hood. Animals are important at the Nürtingen school. In addition to the donkeys Emily and Elfie and the sheep Paula and Lotta, the goats Tamy and Lucky, the rooster Count Bunt with his flock of chickens, and several bee colonies also live on the Lerchenberg, where the school is located. During the day, Count Bunt and his followers roam freely on the unfenced grounds and quickly gather around the fireplace on a small hill when Susanne Holz calls them with her very own melody: «Beeeeb – Bibibibeeeeb! » Holz has been at the school for 16 years, and it was through her that the animals gradually arrived. In her first job she studied forestry, today she accompanies a sixth grade class through school life. She also brings her qualifications from animal-assisted education, riding instructor, and experiential learning to the table. Essentially, though, Holz says, the animals make any kind of imaginary pedagogy unnecessary. «That's the great thing about them. I don't need a lot of words or sophisticated methods. The mere presence of a donkey makes it clear to even the loudest of loudmouths that they'd better keep quiet and refrain from slamming doors.»

Always real and never abstract

Joachim Mojzis, the managing director of the Freie Waldorfschule Chemnitz, puts it similarly. Animals are also a part of everyday school life there, and have long been with great naturalness. Animals are «never abstract» and «always real», which is why the connection to them is immediate, and that is a true gift. Mojzis knows what he's talking about. Animals, he says, have surrounded him since he was five years old. When he took over management in Chemnitz almost three years ago, expanding animal-assisted education was one of his most important concerns. This resonated with Michael Wagner. The long-time horticulture teacher is also a great animal lover and was initially primarily responsible for the bee colonies in the school garden. Over the years, other animals were added. As a young pig, he saved Sonja from ending up as a suckling pig. He also nursed two sick members of the species back to health, thus saving them from emergency slaughter. He also rescued several chickens from a poultry farm with students before it was closed. Today they have feathers again and enjoy their freedom. Goats and ducks complete Chemnitz's animal population.

Security and a deeper look

In both Nürtingen, Baden-Württemberg, and Chemnitz, Saxony, there is a kindergarten in the immediate vicinity or within walking distance of the school. All children, young and old, take care of the animals together. In Nürtingen, it is primarily the «Sonnenkinder» (Sun Children), the oldest children in the kindergarten, the core-time children with their caregivers, and Susanne Holz's sixth-graders who look after the animals. Mucking out, feeding, grooming, and exercising – the students arrive every day before school starts and get to work independently. In Chemnitz, in addition to Wagner, it is primarily the kindergarten colleagues Katja Seidel, Anja Treue, and Andrea Klauke who facilitate the interaction between children and animals. Also Corinna Gust, who is responsible for the «Horthühner» (after-school chickens) as part of the all-day program. Three of them have completed training in animal-assisted education or animal-assisted intervention. «Above all, this has provided security in legal matters», reports Andrea Klauke. Allergies, accidents and injuries on the part of the children, but also veterinary regulations regarding the care of the animals – all of these were essential elements of the training. And something else has changed as a result of the training. With several professionals on the team, the reservations about keeping animals among the staff have evaporated. «We certainly had those, and that's understandable and right. But today, none of that remains», says Managing Director Mojzis. This alone would have made the investment in training the colleagues worthwhile. Depending on the provider, it costs between 3,000 and 5,000 euros per person. The school contributed 50 percent, and the other half was financed with government funding. «In terms of content», as Katja Seidel describes it, «the training allows for an in-depth look at what an individual child needs for his or her social-emotional development.» In kindergarten, for example, they have a boy from Bulgaria who suffers from selective mutism. This means he can't speak due to an anxiety disorder, even though he's physically capable. «That hasn't changed so far, but we can still see that a lot has changed in him since he started regularly visiting our goats and donkeys. He's more interested and open, absorbs more, gets more involved, and seems more confident in the routines», reports his educator Anja Treue, who regularly works with him one-on-one.

Impulses for the classroom

In Nürtingen as well as in Chemnitz, teachers experience almost daily that keeping animals also involves many things that would otherwise only occur laboriously or rather artificially in everyday school life. Susanne Holz, for example, thinks about the topic of death and farewell, which of course has a place in religious education, as well as in art and literature, but in a rather theoretical and abstract way. «When an animal passes away and we perhaps even accompany it or go through a process in which we one day have to make a decision about life and death, then the topic becomes tangible and manageable. And for older students, this raises questions that they can bring into politics or ethics classes.» In Nürtingen, there is a special animal cemetery on the school grounds for the furry and feathered friends who have passed away. Some of the crosses that stand there were created in woodwork classes. «So something was made that was needed in the here and now – and it stemmed from a living relationship. So a special quality suddenly comes to the fore in craft classes», says Holz. On the other side of life, during the birth of three lambs, she once had «an incredibly feminine moment.» When the announcement was made that the birth was about to begin, many students initially wanted to be there and streamed out of their classrooms. After a while, most of them left, especially the boys. A group of girls from the upper school remained. «They stayed until the little ones were born. And during that time, conversations about having children, giving birth, and being a woman arose that raised existential questions and touched the soul. There was suddenly an unexpected openness and closeness, and the sheep triggered that», recalls Susanne Holz.

In Chemnitz, the main focus is on nutritional issues related to animal husbandry. Even before any animals, there was a biodynamic school garden. Planning, sowing, planting, tending, and harvesting – all of this takes place during the horticultural sessions and also as part of the all-day program. «Since the animals have been here, the whole thing has become even more complete. Since then, it's been a true circular economy, as biodynamics envisions», says Michael Wagner happily. The harvest is processed, among other places, in the kitchen of the Parzival School, which is located very close to the Chemnitz Waldorf School. The Parzival School is a Waldorf-based special needs school for learning and educational support.

The lowest common denominator

In Nürtingen, Count Bunt's chickens often provide freshly boiled eggs for breakfast on Sundays. In the evenings, on weekends, and during the holidays, it is individual families who look after the animals. «It works very well», reports Holz. And it is very rare for there to be too few volunteers. Community – also something that is created and held together by the animals. «Sometimes they are the lowest common denominator. Then they ensure that people form relationships and feel actively connected to the school as a whole», says the teacher. In general, the animals are a welcome excuse to simply be there, on the school grounds on Lerchenberg. It is not uncommon for elderly people from the retirement home next door to come and sit on the benches around the fireplace, waiting for Count Bunt and his followers. Then they sometimes watch as second- and twelfth-graders rush across the grounds together because the donkeys Emily and Elfie have escaped again. This happens because their fence is old and crumbling. And while children of all ages try to catch the two together, the horse droppings on the gravel path now make sense to me.