"Becoming a class teacher? The idea gives me a lift!": Marelle Tann from Estonia

Marelle works in Grade Zero. This is an increasingly frequent phenomenon in Waldorf Schools: A transition year between Kindergarten and school, where location, curriculum and personnel all engage in building bridges for the children. The traditional process of establishing school readiness seems old-fashioned in this context. A more proactive approach concentrates on enabling children to make the crossing as smoothly and organically as possible.

Marelle only trained as a Kindergarten teacher quite recently: she joined her school, Aruküla Vaba Waldorfkool in the Estonian countryside in 2016 as a volunteer, after managing a gas station for 13 years. Then her son “challenged his Kindergarten reality” (what a child-friendly and evocative phrase!) and she began to look for alternatives. On her first encounter with a local Waldorf school she found it messy, but something drew her back for a closer look, and gradually “I fell in love with it!”.

Anthroposophy simply made sense to her and opened her mind for many new questions. She trained in a programme developed by Stuttgart and Tartu, and soon was given her own group in Aruküla. Now the Grade Zero group “makes sense” to her, and she likes the extra challenges the awareness of “big school” brings with it. Asked whether having a teacher for just one year might not cause attachment problems just at a time when the six-year-olds are looking for secure relationships with a loved authority figure, she smiles gently: “Well … I might be tempted to keep them…”

Of course Marelle has developed close ties with the children entrusted to her, and going forward with them would require challenging processes: additional training for example, and longer term commitments. She would also miss the harmonious working relationships she has formed with her seven Kindergarten colleagues. But she is ready for bigger tasks: “I really want to grow, professionally and personally. I am always asking my colleagues to come and look at my practice, and I am interested in joining the school management team. So far I was taking it one year at a time – now I see perspectives. Our school is in a beautiful natural environment, and we could do a lot with developing a practical stream for the older pupils. Society really needs impulses for change, and we are well placed to provide these. Am I ready to become a class teacher? I do have some doubts…but I started picturing that a long time ago, and the idea gives me a lift!”