Steiner Style at Victoria University

With an undergraduate degree from Victoria University and a doctorate from Oxford University in England, for Dr. Dillon Mayhew the line between his education at the Christchurch Rudolf Steiner School and his current career is very clear.

“The strengths of the maths curriculum and the maths teacher I had at Steiner were a really important and influential part of my choosing maths as a career.  Now that I’m working in maths education myself, I can’t imagine there would be more than one in ten maths classes in this country that would offer such a comprehensive maths education.”

Now a lecturer in Maths at Victoria University, Dillon credits his years at the school with providing him excellent role models for his own teaching.

“At Steiner there’s an excellent rapport between teachers and students and the informality of that relationship is a definite strength.  The teachers hadn’t created a barrier between the students and the teacher – there was the sense that you were engaging with each other as equals without a big power differential. I now aspire to offer my students the same – the feeling that I am approachable and teaching from a more equal position.”

With most of his time spent lecturing and carrying out maths research, Dillon also maintains another aspect of his Steiner education in his current life.

“Music and drama are big elements of the education at Steiner and they both really broadened my horizons.  I have fond memories of being in the plays there, in part because they brought out a different side of me.  Since leaving the school, I have continued to play the French horn as a hobby.  I now play for orchestras in Wellington and occasionally for the NZ Symphony Orchestra.”