But even in non Waldorf schools, it’s common to have the same teacher for the first 4 years, sometimes longer.
At least it’s common here, in East Germany.
I also think it is kind of important that it is this way, because kids learn FOR their teacher. A positive relationship must come first. Of course conflicts can happen. If this is the case and parents feel their children don’t grow to their full potential there are lot of ways to resolve the conflicts.
I think in Finland I had one teacher for first 2 or 3 years and then other one for next 3/4. It kinda does make sense as those ages are very different.
For next 3 years we had 1 retiring and then one taking over "home room" teacher. But at that point every class was with specialised teacher.
We did have repeat teachers for 3rd/4th grade (as the article described, it was probably due to staff shortages at the time), but by 5th/6th grade we moved to having different teachers for every subject.
At least it’s common here, in East Germany.
I also think it is kind of important that it is this way, because kids learn FOR their teacher. A positive relationship must come first. Of course conflicts can happen. If this is the case and parents feel their children don’t grow to their full potential there are lot of ways to resolve the conflicts.