GLAM Conference

Steiner Education Australia (SEA) runs a conference each year focussing on Governance, Leadership, Administration and Management (GLAM).

This year it was held at Orana Steiner School in Canberra. Orana means WELCOME in the Ngunnawal language and the 15 staff members from WA Steiner schools felt welcomed to the sunny but chilly national capital on election weekend.

The theme of the conference was “Facing an Uncertain Future” and like most manufactured themes it was touched on here and there across the three days, to provide some continuity. The quote that seemed most apposite was by Nobel prize winner Ilya Prigogine – “the future is uncertain…… but this uncertainty is at the very heart of human creativity”

At any Steiner workshop, course or conference we are reminded that we are to seek answers and develop ourselves rather than be passive recipients. Such growth, we are reminded, comes through creativity in our thinking, doing and feeling. One workshop focussed on the use of power for the greater good and the evolution of humankind. This quote by Julie Diamond (2016) was resonant: Better use of power depends on learning about ourselves, on growing our self-awareness, understanding our emotionality and complexity.”

It was a great chance to meet people from all over Australia and share ideas, feel supported to work in Steiner schools and to grow our understanding of the big and small issues. Workshops covered a wide range of topics that were practical, theoretical or both including accounting and finance, project management, alumni, marketing, enrolment processes, leading cultural change, law, karma, cyber security, generative AI, governance for directors, bridging divides between expectation and reality, associative economics.

Although complex, discussions on our work were enlivening as evident in this quote from Steiner - “The essential thing is that we, as human beings, become conscious of our karma in order to transform it. This transformation is a pilgrimage toward moral maturity.”

“Some WA Participants at GLAM” 

Complex new ideas about finances were presented in keynote talks by author Dr Christopher Houghton Budd ata-contrast="none">http://www.christopherhoughtonbudd.com/ 

Great Grounds

Over and again we are thankful for the look and feel of our school grounds. Thank you to Peter and Marijanna and the FGM team members for all their work in making our campuses such a delight to wander and wonder.

With much gratitude

Bruce Lee
School Administrator