Seelenpflege 2016-3-4 Spezial

Beiträge | Contributions
complex manifestations of disabilities in people who
need support. In addition, new tasks are generated by
societal challenges and political troubles and need to
be addressed by anthroposophic curative education.
The central ideas of the work have changed; today, the
paradigms of self-determination, participation and inclusion
are standard in support work. Including family
members is now a matter of course, the normalization
principle has shown its effects as regards lifesharing
in the institutions, and the concept of community no
longer has the charisma it once had.
Dealing with power and authority in curative education
and social therapeutic daily life is a further challenge
which confronts us in practice. In many countries,
support and care work has been severely regulated in
recent decades, and new, fixed requirements related
to professional training have taken effect. Other notable
challenges are the pressure to formalize, quality
assurance, the emphasis on competence, documentation,
and the representation of anthroposophic basic
principles. All of these changes lead and have led to
uncertainties in practical life. Training centres are challenged
to educate their students in such a way that
they are able to successfully handle the areas of conflict,
the changing circumstances, and the increasing
complexity of the work caused by these new issues.
It is no longer sufficient for a training course to merely
convey the foundations of the anthroposophic
understanding of the human being. Students must be
prepared for professional discussion with non-anthroposophic
colleagues, while also developing knowledge
of the central aspects of anthroposophic curative education
and social therapy and the ability to creatively
put them into practice.
What is required is an opening and broadening, while
not losing sight of the central values – an exciting
and not-always-simple challenge. Things look somewhat
different in countries without a tradition of curative
education and social therapy: here it is often
qualified professionals who are specifically seeking
to expand their professional self-concept through an
anthroposophic understanding of the human being,
and who already have general professional knowledge
in the field.
Training is extremely important for the future of anthroposophic
curative education and social therapy. It
is no longer sufficient or even possible to simply attempt
to preserve and pass on old forms, customs and
traditions; rather, we must strive to find new and appropriate
responses – developed out of anthroposophy
– ›‹to current societal challenges in learning and
education. Training centres are committed to this task,
and need to continue to learn from people with disabilities
and their families, from practical life and from
the wider professional field in order to contribute to
future development.
Dr. Andreas Fischer is a clinical curative
educator, long-time co-worker and director
of curative educational institutions,
and has been the Director oft the
Höhere Fachschule für Heilpädagogik in
Dornach since 2008.
Translation from German: Margot Saar
Zeitschrift Seelenpflege Spezial / 2016
153