Waldorf education
Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical skills, with a focus on imagination and creativity. Individual teachers have a great deal of autonomy in curriculum content, teaching methods, and governance. Qualitative assessments of student work are integrated into the daily life of the classroom, with standardized testing limited to what is required to enter post-secondary education.
The first Waldorf school opened in 1919 in Stuttgart, Germany. A century later, it has become the largest independent school movement in the world, with more than 1,200 independent schools and nearly 2,000 kindergartens in 75 countries, as well as more than 500 centers for special education in more than 40 countries. There are also numerous Waldorf-based public schools, charter schools, and academies, as well as a homeschooling movement. Germany, the United States, and the Netherlands have the most Waldorf schools.
Many Waldorf schools have faced controversy due to Steiner's connections to racist ideology and magical thinking. Others have faced regulatory audits and closure due to concerns over substandard treatment of children with special educational needs. Critics of Waldorf education point out the mystical nature of anthroposophy and the incorporation of Steiner's esoteric ideas into the curriculum. Waldorf schools have also been linked to the outbreak of infectious diseases due to the vaccine hesitancy of many Waldorf parents.
Origins and history
The first school based upon the ideas of Rudolf Steiner was opened in 1919 in response to a request from Emil Molt, owner and managing director of the Waldorf-Astoria Cigarette Company in Stuttgart, Germany. This is the source of the name Waldorf, which is now trademarked in the United States when used in connection with the educational method. Molt's proposed school would educate the children of employees of the factory.Molt was a follower of Rudolf Steiner, and his movement, anthroposophy, an esoteric spiritual movement based on the notion that an objectively comprehensible spiritual realm exists and can be observed by humans. Many of Steiner's ideas influenced the pedagogy of the original Waldorf school and still play a central role in modern Waldorf classrooms, including reincarnation, karma, the existence of spiritual beings, the idea that children are themselves spiritual beings, and eurythmy.
The co-educational school also served children from outside the factory, including children from across the social spectrum. It was also the first comprehensive school in Germany, serving children of all genders, abilities, and social classes. At Steiner's behest, the early Waldorf schools were "open to all students, regardless of income. If the parents were unable to pay the full tuition, the remaining amount would be subsidized."
Waldorf education became more widely known in 1922 through lectures Steiner gave at a conference at Oxford University. Two years later, on his final trip to Britain at Torquay in 1924, Steiner delivered a Waldorf teacher training course. The first school in England was founded in 1925; the first in the United States in 1928. By the 1930s, numerous schools inspired by Steiner's pedagogical principles had opened in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Hungary, the United States, and England.
From 1933 to 1945, political interference from the Nazi regime limited and ultimately closed most Waldorf schools in Europe, with the exception of some British, Swiss, and Dutch schools; the United Kingdom and Switzerland were not occupied by Nazi Germany. A few schools elsewhere in Europe survived by going underground.
In general, Nazis did not like private schools; however, Rudolf Hess, the adjunct Führer, was a patron of Waldorf schools. According to Karen Priestman, "Although the Anthroposophy Society was prohibited in November 1935 and Reich Education Minister Bernhard Rust forbade all private schools from accepting new students in March 1936, the last Waldorf school was not closed until 1941." This was shortly after especially after Hess flew to England to negotiate peace. The affected schools reopened after the Second World War ended. Some schools in East Germany were re-closed a few years later by the Communist government.
In North America in 1967, there were nine schools in the United States and one in Canada. As of 2021, that number had increased to more than 200 in the United States and over 20 in Canada. There are currently 29 Steiner schools in the United Kingdom and three in the Republic of Ireland.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Waldorf schools again began to proliferate in Central and Eastern Europe. More recently, many have opened in Asia, especially China. There are currently over 1,200 independent Waldorf schools worldwide.
Developmental approach
The structure of Waldorf education follows a theory of childhood development devised by Rudolf Steiner, utilizing distinct learning strategies for each of three developmental stages or "epochs": early childhood, elementary, and secondary education. Steiner believed each stage lasted approximately seven years. Setting aside their spiritual underpinnings, Steiner's seven-year stages are broadly similar to earlier theories by Comenius and Pestalozzi and later work by Jean Piaget. The stated purpose of this approach is to awaken the "physical, behavioral, emotional, cognitive, social, and spiritual" aspects of each pupil.Early childhood
In Waldorf pedagogy, young children learn best through immersion in unselfconscious imitation of practical activities. The early childhood curriculum focuses on experiential education and imaginative play. The overall goal of the curriculum is to "imbue the child with a sense that the world is good".Waldorf preschools employ a regular daily routine that includes free play, artistic work, circle time, outdoor recess, and practical tasks, with rhythmic variations. Rhythm and repetitive patterns are considered important in anthroposophy and are believed to hold spiritual significance. The classroom is intended to resemble a home, with tools and toys usually sourced from simple, natural materials that lend themselves to imaginative play. The use of natural materials has been praised as fulfilling children's aesthetic needs and reinforcing connections to nature, though some scholars have questioned whether the preference for natural, non-manufactured materials is truly a "reasoned assessment of twenty-first century children's needs", rather than "a reaction against the dehumanizing aspects of nineteenth-century industrialization".
Pre-school and kindergarten programs generally include seasonal festivals drawn from a variety of traditions, with attention placed on traditions brought forth from the surrounding community. Waldorf schools in the Western Hemisphere have traditionally celebrated Christian festivals, though some North American Waldorf schools also include Jewish holidays.
Waldorf kindergarten and lower grades generally discourage pupils' use of electronic media such as television and computers. There are a variety of reasons for this: Waldorf educators believe that use of these conflicts with young children's developmental needs, media users may be physically inactive, and media may be seen to contain inappropriate or undesirable content and to hamper the imagination.
Elementary education
Waldorf pedagogues consider that readiness for learning to read depends upon increased independence of character, temperament, habits, and memory, one of the markers of which is the loss of the baby teeth. Formal instruction in reading, writing, and other academic disciplines are therefore not introduced until students enter the elementary school, when pupils are around seven years of age. Steiner believed that engaging young children in abstract intellectual activity too early would adversely affect their growth and development.Waldorf elementary schools emphasize cultivating children's emotional life and imagination. In order that students can connect more deeply with the subject matter, academic instruction is presented through artistic work that includes story-telling, visual arts, drama, movement, music, and crafts. The core curriculum includes language arts, mythology, history, geography, geology, algebra, geometry, mineralogy, biology, astronomy, physics, chemistry, and nutrition. The school day generally begins with a one-and-a-half to two-hour, cognitively oriented academic lesson, or "Main lesson", that focuses on a single theme over one month's time. This typically begins with introductory activities that may include singing, instrumental music, and recitations of poetry, generally including a verse written by Rudolf Steiner for the start of a school day. There is little reliance on standardized textbooks.
Waldorf elementary education allows for individual variations in the pace of learning, based upon the expectation that a child will grasp a concept or achieve a skill when he or she is ready. Cooperation takes priority over competition. This approach also extends to physical education; competitive team sports are not introduced until upper grades.
Each class remains together as a cohort throughout all elementary, developing as a quasi-familial social group. In elementary years, a core teacher teaches primary academic subjects. A central role of this teacher is to provide a supportive role model both through personal example and through stories drawn from a variety of cultures, educating by exercising "creative, loving authority". Class teachers are normally expected to teach a cohort for several years, a practice known as looping. Starting in first grade, specialized teachers teach many subjects, including music, crafts, movement, and two foreign languages from complementary language families.
While class teachers serve a valuable role as personal mentors, establishing "lasting relationships with pupils", Ullrich documented problems when the same teacher continues into middle school. Noting that there is a danger of any authority figure limiting students enthusiasm for inquiry and autonomy, he cited a number of schools where the class teacher accompanies the class for six years only, after which specialist teachers play a greater role.