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By his own admission, Gaby Israel was skeptical about sending his daughter Danielle, then in Grade 3, to an alternative school.
"It wasn't like, 'OK, they can convince me in a week or so,'" he recalls. "I was trying to challenge it over, and over, and over again."
Gaby Israel had to be convinced that when he enrolled his daughter in Toronto Waldorf School, an Ontario alternative school that focuses on social and emotional development in addition to academics, Danielle would be able to thrive.
By the end of his first parent-teacher meeting, he had his answer.
"We saw the teachers, and that actually was the turning point for me," he says. "You feel as if they're on some kind of a mission. They're very much like mentors, not like teachers."
Though dedicated teachers can be found in schools of all varieties, Queen's University professor of education Rena Upitis says the didactic nature of alternative education lends itself to more zealous educators.
"There is more of an 'evangelical' tone to the rhetoric that some teachers in alternative schools adopt – and in those cases, being 'on a mission' seems an accurate observation," she says. "My experience is that this is more likely to occur in the alternative schools where a particular philosophical, pedagogical, and world-view is embedded in the schooling."
Toronto Waldorf is just one example of an alternative school, which can differ from traditional schools in focus, style of teaching, pedagogy and subject matter. For example, rather than focusing strictly on academics, Toronto Waldorf takes what it calls a "deeper perspective" on education, striving to develop children intellectually, socially and emotionally.
Danielle recently graduated from Toronto Waldorf, having spent nine years at the school and transitioning from its "lower school" elementary program to its "upper school" or high school. Having thrived during her time at Waldorf, she attributes her success at the school as much to her peers as to pedagogy.
"Because our class is so small, we're a family," she says of her classmates "So it's nice going from one family to the next (each morning)."
While Waldorf's "deeper perspective" has helped Danielle thrive, Upitis notes that choosing an alternative school is a subjective process. Each one takes a unique approach, which may suit some students while failing others. It's a matter of finding the right philosophy and the right school for your child.
"Waldorf is not for every child," she offers as an example.
In addition, Danielle benefited from remaining at Toronto Waldorf through elementary and high school, rather than making the transition to a new school that many students make after Grade 8.
"There can be difficulties transitioning to other schooling systems from Waldorf schools," Upitis says, "and the 'evangelical' tone can also be off-putting for some."
But having recently been accepted to Jersualem's Hebrew University — her first choice — Danielle has proven herself an accomplished student. According to her father, she owes at least part of her success to the fact that she found the right fit within a particular form of alternative education.
"It took me a while to really understand that," Gaby Israel says.
By Dave Bowden
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