John Allison

Who is John Allison?

John Allison is a New Zealand/Australian poet, musician, and anthroposophist.

Allison was born in New Zealand and taught at the Christchurch Waldorf Steiner School for 24 years. He now lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, Australia, working part-time as an administrator in Ghilgai Steiner School, and throughout Australia as a consultant in education, parenting, and organisational development.

Allison plays the middle eastern oud, renaissance lute, cittern and guitar; is an established poet with four published collections and many poems printed in journals worldwide; and lectures and writes on themes related to poetic imagination and observation, anthroposophy, and Waldorf education.

Allison has advocated the enhancement of methods for imaginative teaching in Waldorf education. He has spoken out against the exposure to young children of images from television, film and computer games, especially violent and sexual images, which leave them less receptive to the power of creating their own imagery. Allison in his recent writing has attempted to show how ordinary imagination can be intensified to become an organ of cognition.