Waldorf education (also called Steiner education) is based upon the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, and his spiritual/religious philosophy anthroposophy. ^[1][2] Waldorf education is keyed to a spiritual perspective of child development and emphasizes an imaginative and holistic approach in education^[3] to further the balanced integration of thought, feeling, action and spirit within each individual.^[4][5]

Waldorf education is practiced in more than 900 ^[6] established independent private Waldorf schools located in about sixty different countries, in "Waldorf-method" government-funded schools and in homeschooling environments.

Description

Waldorf education was founded in the early 20th Century out of the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, and has been developed through the research and work of Waldorf pedagogues since.^[7][8] Waldorf schools aim to "educate the whole child - head, heart, and hands" - to develop the intellect, emotional life, and practical abilities in harmonious balance.^[9] Their curriculum and pedagogy follows Steiner's pedagogical model of a child's holistic development.^[10] Steiner believed that there are distinct seven-year human developmental stages, of which there are three during childhood, each having its own distinctive learning requirements:^[11]

• During early childhood, learning (language and skill acquisition) is largely experiential, imitative and sensory-based.^[12]
• In the elementary school years, learning naturally occurs through appealing to the imagination, especially through artistic activity.^[13]
• Finally, during adolescence, the capacity for abstract thought and conceptual judgement develops.^[14]

Thus, the Waldorf approach to early childhood education (through age 6/7) emphasizes learning through doing (imitation of practical activities)^[14]. The approach to the elementary years (ages 7-12 or 7-14) emphasizes learning through the imagination, "feeling intelligence" and artistic expression.^[11] The Waldorf approach to the middle (ages 12-14) and high school (ages 14-18) years emphasizes learning through intellectual understanding; "adolescents focus on ethics, social responsibility, and mastery of complex and rigorous subject matter".^[11] Waldorf education attempts to integrate practical, artistic, and intellectual approaches into the teaching of all subjects.^[9]

Pedagogy

The Four Temperaments

Waldorf teachers use the concept of "the four temperaments" to help interpret, understand and relate to the behavior and personalities of children under their tutelage. Steiner's four temperaments are based on the the four humours as postulated by the ancient Roman physician, Galen. These humours are:

• Choleric
• Phlegmatic
• Melancholic
• Sanguine

Steiner related the temperaments to his "fourfold conception of the human being". According to Steiner, these are: choleric - ego, sanguine - astral body, phlegmatic - etheric body, and melancholic - physical body.^[15]

In this structure, it is believed that these four temperaments equate into four basic personality types, each possessing its own fundamental way of regarding and interacting with the world. Therefore, Waldorf teachers may seat children of the same "temperament" or personality type in proximity in the classroom, in order to help "modulate excessive characteristics" of each type.^[16] Additionally, when casting a play, for example, a child's temperament may determine if he is a king (phlegmatic) or a warrior (choleric), a messenger (sanguine), or a worrier (melancholic). In some Waldorf schools, "Greek Olympics" are held and children are divided into groups in accordance with their temperament (e.g. cholerics compete with cholerics).

Focus on the non-competitive environment

Another fundamental tenet of Waldorf pedagogy is the pursuit of the non-competitive environment. In other words, children are allowed to learn at their own pace, on the belief that through observation and imitation, a child will grasp a concept or achieve a skill when he or she is ready.^{[citation needed]} This also extends to physical activities both in and often out of school, where participation in competitive sport is discouraged.^{[citation needed]}

Pre-school and kindergarten: birth to age 6 or 7

Waldorf schools emphasize that children in the early stages of life learn through imitation and example.^[17][18] Oral language development is addressed through circle games (songs, poems and games in movement), daily story time (normally recited from memory) and a range of other activities. ^[19] Substantial time is given for children to freely play; such an environment is considered to support the physical, emotional and intellectual growth of the child through assimilative learning.^[20] Color, the use of natural materials, and toys and dolls that encourage the imagination are "intrinsic to the uncluttered, warm and homelike, aesthetically pleasing Waldorf environments."^[11]

Waldorf early childhood education emphasizes the importance of children experiencing the rhythms of the year and seasons, including seasonal festivals drawn from a variety of traditions. Waldorf classrooms around the world traditionally celebrate Michaelmas in the fall season, Christmas in winter, Easter in spring, and St. John's Day in summer. ^[21]

Many Waldorf kindergartens and lower grades ask or require that children be sheltered from media and popular cultural influences, including television and recorded music .

Elementary education: age 6 or 7 to puberty

In Waldorf schools, elementary education generally begins when the child is nearing or already seven years of age. The elementary school curriculum includes two foreign languages - begun at age 6/7 - as well as a multidisciplined arts based curricula which includes drawing, drama, artistic movement and both vocal and instrumental music. ^[14]

Throughout the elementary years, an imaginative approach is encouraged; ^[22] new material is introduced through stories and images, academic instruction is integrated with the visual and plastic arts, music and movement, ^[22]and the children create their own "textbooks", known as "main lesson books".^[23] The school day generally starts with a one-and-a-half to two hour "Main Lesson", that explores a single academic subject over the course of about a month's time^[24] and generally includes recitations of poetry, including a verse written by Steiner for the start of a school day,^[21].

The Role of the Main Lesson Teacher

The objective of Waldorf schools is to have a single teacher accompany a class throughout the elementary school years from Grade 1 through Grade 8;^[24], an approach which has become known as "looping." This teacher, usually referred to as the "main lesson" teacher, is responsible for teaching the principal academic lessons to a class. The main lesson teacher may also have responsibilities for some of the artistic and/or practical lessons; however, specialist teachers generally teach the latter. There is an emphasis on the "artistry, autonomy and authority of the individual teacher".^[10]

There is evidence to support that the continuity afforded by looping fosters learning in students.^[25][26] Other evidence indicates substantial downsides to looping, in that:

• it restricts the ability of teacher to perfect a lesson through repetition
• conflict/tension between students and teachers is not always resolved and endures from year to year
• lapses in an instructor's teachings aren't necessarily corrected later on by a different instructor

Since the Main Lesson teacher defines the character of the individual class, each class carries with it its own unique and observable strengths and weaknesses throughout the grades.^[12]

Secondary education

In most Waldorf schools, pupils enter secondary education (9th grade/year nine) when they are about fourteen years old. The education is now wholly carried by specialist teachers. Though the education now focuses much more strongly on academic subjects,^[27] students normally continue to take courses in art, music, and crafts. The curriculum "focuses on helping the student develop a sense of competence, responsibility and purpose"^[28]; ethical principles and social responsibility are cultivated^[11]

While the elementary education focuses the child's experience on the teacher as an authority, pupils are now encouraged to begin a more independent development of "vital and creative" thinking.^[29]

Curriculum

Waldorf schools are autonomous institutions and are not required to follow a prescribed curriculum; nevertheless, there is considerable consistency of curriculum between the schools due to their shared principles.^[30]

English language/literature

In Waldorf education writing and reading are introduced at age six or seven (in first grade/class one); reading is introduced subsequently to writing. Beginning with imaginative pictures of sounds (e.g. a snake shape for the letter "s"), the children gradually learn the abstract letter forms, and move on to phonetics, spelling, grammar and punctuation.

This means that typically, Waldorf students aren't "reading fully" until the third grade. Even at that point though, many Waldorf teachers don't worry if students are still struggling. Moreover, since Waldorf students generally enter first grade a year later than usual, they may not be reading until age nine or ten, or several years after many of their similarly-aged peers, educated in a traditional environment.

"Many Waldorf parents recall that their children were behind their friends in non-Waldorf schools but somehow caught up in the third or fourth grade, and then suddenly read with unusual fervor." "Two years after Waldorf methods were introduced in a fourth-grade class of mostly minority children, the number of students who read at grade level doubled, rising from 45 to 85 percent."^[31]

While at least one child psychologist and some public schools that have adopted the method cite prodigious evidence that late readers ultimately fare better at reading and other subjects than early readers (e.g. Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill), this approach can carry a potential downside for children with genuine learning disabilities such as dyslexia:

"Although Waldorf teachers learn techniques, phonic and otherwise, that can pinpoint reading troubles, some have such faith in the Waldorf way that they overlook children with real disabilities."^[12]

Accounts of such situations have raised concerns in reading experts ^{[citation needed]}, with at least one independent study demonstrating that children who start reading later tend to do worse overall, and over the long-term. Lucy Calkins, a well-known reading specialist at the Teachers College of Columbia University, is less concerned. "I would not necessarily be worried in a Waldorf school. The foundation of literacy is talk and play.".^[12]

In high school, there is an increased focus on English literature.^[30]

Nature and science

Life sciences begin from age 6/7 with stories of "the living world."^{[citation needed]} Observation and description of "the living world" begins at age 9/10.^[30] The curriculum includes blocks on farming (aged 9/10), Man and animal (aged 10/11)^{[citation needed]}, Plant and Earth (aged 11/12) and geology, human biology and astronomy (aged 12/13).^[30] Children are taught that they are interdependently connected with nature and the environment around them, and that that as a result of that interdependence, how they treat nature and the environment is at least as important as how they treat themselves and each other.^[32]

At the secondary school level (fourteen years of age and up), Waldorf schools study the historical origins, cultural background, and philosophical roots and consequences of scientific discoveries. By the end of their secondary school education, students are expected to have a grasp of modern science equivalent to that achieved in other schools. ^{[citation needed]}

History and geography

History begins with "mythical and archetypal narrative" (age 6-9 years). At age 10 history lessons begin to draw upon the local environment in connection with local geography. Beginning at age 11, history is introduced as a formal subject.^{[30] [citation needed]}

Main lesson books

In both the elementary school and secondary school, most academic subjects are taught in "main lesson" blocks. For these blocks, each pupil writes and illustrates a "main lesson book" that is generally copied from the teacher's work on the blackboard, becoming a self-copied 'textbook' upon the content presented. Over time, children are encouraged to explore their own creativity in their main lesson book.^[12]

Foreign languages

Some Waldorf schools begin teaching two foreign languages from first grade/class 1 (age six-seven) on. Foreign language instruction in the first years is purely oral. The written forms of the languages are introduced often not introduced until the end of thrid grade.^{[citation needed]}

Arts and crafts

• Painting is normally a weekly experience in the early years. Modeling in materials such as clay and beeswax forms an important part of the curriculum. Art instruction continues through the high school for all students.^{[30] [citation needed]}
• In the elementary years, drawing is practiced daily and handwork (including knitting, crochet, and embroidery) is practiced several times weekly, with projects which may include cushions, socks, gloves and dolls.^[30] A exercise called Form Drawing which has spiritual roots, focuses on linear forms. This exercise was created by the early Waldorf pedagogue Hermann von Baravalle.
• Woodworking normally begins during 5th or 6th grade. Sculpting in clay is sometimes introduced around the same time.
• In high school, the crafts curriculum includes woodworking, basketry, weaving and book-binding (not every school offers all of these). Art instruction continues.^[33]

Music

• The children sing daily with their class teacher.^{[citation needed]} Generally, weekly singing lessons with a specialized music teacher begin at an early age and continue as choral instruction through the end of a child's Waldorf experience. Music is sometimes also integrated into the teaching of subjects such as arithmetic, geography, history and science.^{[34][citation needed]}

• Recorders, usually pentatonic, are introduced in first grade/ class 1, the familiar diatonic recorder in third grade / class 3, when the children also take up a string instrument: either violin, viola or cello. Waldorf pupils are generally required to take private music lessons when a class orchestra is formed, usually at age 10. By age 11, the children may switch to (or add) other orchestral instruments such as the woodwind or brass. Orchestral instruction continues through the end of a child's Waldorf experience, though in many schools it becomes elective at some point.^[12]

Eurythmy

A movement art created by Steiner and "meant to help children develop harmoniously with mind, body and soul",^[30] Eurythmy is studied from kindergarten through twelfth grade.^[30] Eurythmy is usually performed to poetry or music. Steiner insisted that Eurythmy must be taught to every student in every grade and it one of only two subjects that is required in all Waldorf schools today.

"The realisation of this fact of human evolution might well give one courage to develop ever further and further this art of Eurythmy, which has been borne on the wings of fate into the Anthroposophical Movement. For it is the task of the Anthroposophical Movement to reveal to our present age that spiritual impulse which is suited to it." Rudolf Steiner - Lecture on Eurythmy Aug. 26, 1923.

Anthroposophy in the Curriculum

Anthroposophy is the main course of study for Waldorf teachers, and while it is not intended to be taught as a subject in Waldorf schools, it permeates every subject. Although Steiner himself advised against presenting children with "sectarian ideas", teachers who are fervent anthroposophists may unintentionally incorporate Steiner's philosophies directly into the curriculum.

An independent journalist discussed this critical yet rarely acknowledged issue:

Harmless or not, zealotry in the practice of Steiner's theories usually has a much simpler cause: bad teachers. Although this problem afflicts every school, Waldorf wrestles with an extra challenge by being one of the last refuges for the countercultural values of the 1960s. "A lot of people think Waldorf schools are the place for the kids of ex-hippies," says Eugene Schwartz, the [former] director of teacher training at Sunbridge College, in Spring Valley, New York. That image often attracts teachers who are "dropping out from the world of competition or power," Schwartz says. They can find great comfort in Steiner's spirituality, and become more devoted followers than even Steiner himself might have wished. The result is that students sometimes learn more about Steiner's scientific theories than about Isaac Newton's. "People often think Waldorf offers an easy way to teach the sciences," Schwartz says. "In fact it's just the opposite."^[12]

Standardized Testing

Waldorf pedagogues generally consider standardized tests problematic, especially in the elementary grades. The belief of many mainstream pedagogues is that such testing does not measure "initiative, creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment, nuance, good will, ethical reflection or a host of other valuable attributes."^[35] This dynamic is often paraphrased as "teaching for the test" as a counterpoint to "teaching the person." Despite the lack of standardized testing, U.S. Waldorf pupils' SAT scores have "generally come in well above the national average, particularly on verbal measures."

While Waldorf graduates have never been carefully tracked in the United States, a longitudinal study of 1,460 German Waldorf graduates conducted in 1981, evaluated the performance of pupils in German Waldorf schools on a rigorous German achievement test. The study found that 22 percent of Waldorf graduates passed the test, which at the time was triple the passing rate of students who graduated from state-sponsored schools.^[12]

Celebrations and Festivals

Most private Waldorf schools celebrate festivals.^[21] Festivals can be secular in character, combine elements of several religious traditions, as is frequently the case in multi-cultural settings, or represent the dominant local tradition, as is generally the case in parts of Europe (Christian festivals), Egypt (Islamic festivals), Israel (Jewish festivals, but see Intercultural links in socially polarized communities), and India and Thailand (Buddhist festivals).

Media influences

Waldorf schools often discourage early use of electronic media, especially television viewing ^[36] and listening to recorded music for younger children.^[37]

Governance

There are coordinating bodies for Waldorf education at both the national (e.g. the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America and the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship in the UK and Ireland) and international level (e.g. International Association for Waldorf Education and The European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education (ECSWE)). These organizations certify the use of the registered names "Waldorf" and "Steiner school" and offer accreditations, often in conjunction with regional independent school associations^[38], as well as some schools being accredited by governmental authorities^[39].

Within these restrictions, one of Waldorf education's central premises is that all schools should be self-governing and that teachers have a high degree of autonomy within their own classrooms.^[22] Most Waldorf schools do not have a person acting as principal or headmaster, but rather a group of teachers who decide on pedagogical issues. This group is often known as the college of teachers, which normally decide issues on the basis of consensus, and are usually open to all full-time teachers who have been with the school for a certain period. Accordingly, each school is unique in its approach and may act solely on the basis of the decisions of the college of teachers, with respect to setting policy or other actions pertaining to the school and its students. ^[21]

For more information about school organization and administration, see Waldorf schools' organization and administration.

Social mission

Wider social purpose

Steiner's initiative, which later became known as "the Waldorf movement," was intended by him and his pedagogues to serve two purposes:

• 1] to foster creative development of what he called "the whole child" and
• 2] to help fulfill what he perceived as a greater social purpose: that education, fully accessible and available to all, should eventually cease to be controlled by the State. Moreover, it should be available regardless of a family's economic background.

Steiner believed that education should instead come to depend solely on the choices of families and teachers, without government oversight with the goal of developing a diverse range of educational options.^[40] He held that educators whose methods and work were determined by the State often had their competencies and creativity greatly weakened through the lack of full self-responsibility and independence.^[40] Steiner believed that social health required education to be a matter of freedom and pluralism,^[40] but was prepared to make compromises with State regulations.^[40]

Intercultural links in socially polarized communities

Waldorf schools have linked polarized communities in a variety of settings.

• Under the apartheid regime in South Africa, the Waldorf school was one of the few schools in which children of both races attended the same classes, and this despite the ensuing loss of state aid. The Waldorf training college in Cape Town, the Novalis Institute, was praised by UNESCO as "an organization of tremendous consequence in the conquest of apartheid".^[41][42]
• In Israel, when the Harduf Waldorf school attempted to include the local Arab community, the educational authorities threatened to withdraw funding; the school responded by beginning a joint project with that community to run parallel schools with rich contacts. A joint Arab-Jewish Waldorf kindergarten has also been founded in Hilf (near Haifa).^[43]
• In Brazil, a Waldorf teacher, Ute Craemer, founded a community service organization providing training and work, health care and Waldorf education in the Favelas (poverty-stricken areas of the city). ^[44]

Links to UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known as UNESCO, has chosen a number of Waldorf schools to be associated project schools, including at least seven UNESCO Waldorf schools in Germany, as well as schools in Africa and Asia. ^[45] UNESCO also sponsored an exhibit about the Waldorf schools ^[21] at the 44th Session of their International Conference on Education in Geneva. An exhibition catalog was published by UNESCO under the title Waldorf Education Exhibition Catalog On Occasion of the 4th Session of the International Conference on Education of UNESCO in Geneva. ^[46]

History

Waldorf education was developed by Rudolf Steiner as an attempt to establish a school system that would facilitate the inclusive, broadly based, balanced development of children. Though he had written a book on education, The Education of the Child in the Light of Anthroposophy, twelve years before, his first opportunity to open such a school came in 1919 in response to a request by Emil Molt, the owner and managing director of the Waldorf-Astoria Cigarette Company in Stuttgart, Germany. The name Waldorf thus comes from the factory which hosted the first school.

The school "defied the conventions of the time in being coeducational...open to children of any background (without entrance examination), comprehensive (from [first grade] through high school) and independent of external control."^[47] The teachers had primary control over the pedagogy of the school, with a minimum of interference from the state or from economic sources. For the first year the school was legally a company school and all teachers were listed as workers at Waldorf Astoria; by the second year the school had become an independent legal entity. The Stuttgart school grew rapidly, opening parallel classes, until political interference from the Nazi regime limited and ultimately closed the school:"Always a thorn in the side of the Nazis, the Waldorf school was harassed and plagued by constant injunctions. Soon the existence of the first grade was forbidden, in an attempt to throttle the school from below. When this proved too slow, the authorities closed down the school completely."^[48]

As of 2005, there were over 900 independent Waldorf schools worldwide, including over 150 in the United States, and 31 in the UK and Ireland; in addition, there are about 1,500 Waldorf kindergartens in the world. In the United States there are also a growing number of Waldorf-based charter and public schools.^[11][49] Many teachers not working in schools committed to Waldorf education have brought also brought aspects of the education to their classrooms. In Europe, especially in Switzerland, there is much more integration of the Waldorf approach and government-funded education than in the USA or England. There is also a large homeschooling movement utilizing Waldorf pedagogy and methods. ^[50]

Teacher education

Waldorf education teaching programs are in operation throughout the world, both in specialized colleges and training centers and as courses in established universities. The course of study normally includes methodologies of teaching, academic training in specialized disciplines, artistic development, and familiarity with child development as researched by Steiner. The education understands the role of the teacher as "a sacred task in helping each child's soul and spirit grow";^[10] it thus also generally aims to develop an understanding of the inner, or spiritual, basis of teaching; of the human being as composed of spirit, soul and body; and to consider that an individual human being reincarnates in a series of lives. The latter implies that children bring certain gifts and challenges with them from previous Earth experiences, and have chosen a future destiny to develop in this life — a destiny which can be supported through the environment of family and school. This spiritual background is intended to enhance teachers' professional, personal and inner development. It is not intended to flow into the actual content taught to children.

Courses in anthroposophy are the basis of Waldorf teaching colleges or trainings. ^[51] For elementary educators, artistic work will include painting, blackboard drawing, sculpture, singing, recorder playing, speech and drama work and movement (eurythmy and/or gymnastics). Practica in schools vary in length and will include opportunities for observation and for trial teaching. Much of the education of any Waldorf teacher happens after graduation from the teaching program, however, including through further seminars and conferences (such as those run by the national associations of Waldorf teachers), publications, and on-the-job training in the classroom.

Private schools (including Waldorf schools) in the United States are generally exempt from meeting State licencing standards^[52]. Most independent private schools request candidates with at least bachelor's degree in the subject they intend to teach.^[53] The lack of state oversight coupled with lack of oversight by a central governing body can lead to environments where unqualified and even disturbed teachers are permitted to teach in Waldorf classrooms. ^[54]

Spiritual Foundations

Anthroposophy's role in Waldorf education

Both historically and philosophically, Waldorf education grows out of anthroposophy's view of child development, which stands as the basis for the education's theory of child development, methodology of teaching and curriculum. The extent of information schools provide to prospective parents about these particular topics varies widely. Waldorf teachers intentionally hide the presence of Anthroposphy in Waldorf but expect it to inspire students. ^[55]

Religious orientation

Independent Waldorf schools tend to celebrate festivals and otherwise incorporate content that draws on their community's cultural background. In clearly Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu cultures, the religious traditions of the surrounding culture are often woven into the school's life^{[citation needed]}. Challenges may arise in multicultural settings.

Religion classes are universally absent from the American Waldorf schools. In Germany, each religious confession provides its own teachers for the religion classes required by the State curriculum. In addition, the school offers a "free" religion class for those who belong to no particular confession.^[56]

Concerns of Racism

Concerns have been raised that Waldorf educators may be working out of Steiner's racist teachings:

"Given the origin of Waldorf in early-20th-century Germany and its present in a class-biased and color-racist America, Waldorf educators need to work incessantly to clean their approach of unsuspected biases. For instance, with regard to race, a naive version of the evolution of consciousness, a theory foundational to both Steiner's anthroposophy and Waldorf education, sometimes places one race below another in one or another dimension of development." ^[57]

American urban school studies

In 1996, an independent report was published on an urban Waldorf school in Milwaukee, highlighting potential racism in both teachers and students: ^[57]

Many of the children seemed to have a distorted and negative picture of blackness, an internalized prejudice that runs deep ... Too often, we heard degrading terms such as "big-lipped," "nappy-headed," "big butt," and "black-faced bitch" both in the classroom and at play ... The staff and faculty at Urban Waldorf represented a wide gamut of opinions on race and the possible presence of racism at the school. Some were quick to point to what they thought were unquestionable cases of racism inherent in Waldorf philosophy and practice, and others were as quick to deny the possibility of racism at any level, in any practice.

Though the research noted that the school was attempting to combat racism:

They also understand that they must try. And so we found teacher study groups on African American culture (particularly on storytelling and folklore), and various individual projects on urban life ... the Urban Waldorf faculty has a commendable level of engagement with the difficulties of racism.

Swedish study

A Swedish study comparing several hundred Waldorf students (grade 9 and 12) to corresponding students in Swedish public schools reported that the majority of the pupils in both types of school repudiated Nazism and racism. However, the proportion of pupils who suggested anti-Nazi and anti-racist solutions, i.e. solutions that involved counteracting or stopping Nazism and racism was considerably greater among the Waldorf pupils (93%) than among pupils at municipal schools (72%). ^[58]

German media debate

A broadcast on German television on February 28, 2000, the "Report from Mainz" discussed Waldorf education's relationship to racism. According to the broadcast, experts see that with parts of the Waldorf curriculum "the children are being taught mythology as historical fact and that a development theory placing special emphasis on Aryans is pedagogically untenable." According to Klaus Prange, educational specialist at the University of Tübingen:

This construction serves to create a consciousness in the individual that all of history, as Steiner reads it, with all it peculiarities, is present in every human being. With a clear advantage to our belonging, or supposed belonging, one must say, to the Aryan race, which Waldorf continues to treat as something that really existed^[59]

South West Broadcasting (SWR) who aired the program, found itself in a court battle immediately following the broadcast. The Association of Free Waldorf Schools requested the opportunity to present several rebuttals and that SWR refrain from making the following statements:

• "a) Racism and anti-Semitism are part of the pedagogy of Waldorf schools;
• "b) An increasing number of Jewish parents are removing their children from Waldorf schools; and
• "c) Anti-Semitic incidents take place at Waldorf schools, during which the following statements are made: 'You are not allowed to be Jewish, it would be better if you stopped learning Hebrew. And generally: don't attend Jewish religion classes, the Holocaust was necessary in order to atone for negative karma, the sacrifices were necessary and thus the Holocaust is legitimized'" ^[60]

The Frankfurt court, on March 23, 2000, rejected a petition by the Association of Free Waldorf Schools to issue a temporary injunction against SWR on points a) and c). On point a), the court decided that SWR did not claim racism and anti-Semitism were a part of the pedagogy, and concluded only that SWR had posed that as a question during its broadcast in a neutral way. And on point c), the court found no reason to disbelieve that Samuel Althof of the Initiative Kinder des Holocaust had collected those complaints he reported in the broadcast, and that because his interview did not imply such incidents were a daily occurence, his remarks could not be objected to. The court temporarily prohibited SWR from disseminating the statement contained in point b), however SWR expressed its intention to appeal this ruling by providing statements made by representatives of Jewish organizations that it says prove the accuracy of the statement. ^[61]

Studies of Waldorf education

U.K. Comparison with state-run education

In 2005, in a UK government-funded study^[62] the independent authors of the study praised the schools' ability to develop students through closer human relationships rather than relying purely on tests, but reported that the state sector could provide guidance to Steiner schools in teacher training and classroom management skills.

U.S. Waldorf schools survey

A 1995 survey of U.S. Waldorf schools found that:

• Parents "overwhelmingly experience the Waldorf school as achieving all their major aims for students" and describe the education as one that "integrates the aesthetic, spiritual and interpersonal development of the child with rigorous intellectual development...and preserves students enthusiasm for learning" so that they develop "a greater sense of self-confidence [and] self-direction."^[63]
• Students were aware that their school offers "a different kind of education, that stresses the arts as well as basic studies"; were positive about and unusually able to articulate these differences; experienced the school as a "community of friends"; spoke of the opportunity to grow and develop through the broad range of activities offered, to learn when they were ready to learn, to develop imagination, and to understand the world as well as oneself better than was possible through conventional schooling. Many students spoke of the kindness of their peers and of how they had "learned to think things through clearly for themselves, how not to jump to conclusions, how to remain positive in the face of problems and independent of pressure from other people to think as they do."
• Both students and faculty were divided about the advantages and disadvantages of having a single class teacher for eight years.
• Some parents described teachers as overextended (primarily in the upper grades), without sufficient time to relate to parental needs and input, and wished for more open and reciprocal parent-school support. Colleges of teachers were sometimes described as being insular and unresponsive to parental input.
• Improvements the students suggested included more after-school sports programs, more physical education classes, more preparation for standardized testing, a class in world politics and computer classes. Some students criticized the faculty for being "too set in their ways".
• Faculty, parents and students were united in expressing a desire to improve the diversity of the student body, especially by increasing representation of minority groups such as African-Americans and Hispanic Americans.

The author of the study reported an "overall congruence between the teachers' perceptions of the extent to which their aims are achieved and the students perceptions of what they are learning."^[63]

Milwaukee Public Waldorf School

Dr. Richard R. Doornek, Educational Curriculum specialist with the Milwaukee Public Schools, reported in 1996 that since switching to Waldorf methods the school has shown an increase in parental involvement, a reduction in suspensions, improvements in standardized test scores for both reading and writing (counter to the district trend), while expenditures per pupil are below many regular district programs.^[64]

Notes and References

External links

Waldorf Resources

• The Online Waldorf Library
• Waldorf Research Institute

Further Discussion, Outside Views and Reviews of Waldorf Schools

• News articles since 2004

• "Schooling the Imagination" by Todd Oppenheimer (a winner of the National Magazine Award for public interest reporting). Atlantic Monthly, September 1999

• "Steiner schools 'could help all" by Branwen Jeffreys. BBC News Report on British government-funded study on Waldorf education in the UK, 5july 2005.

• Centre for Research in Education and Democracy study of Waldorf education in Britain

• "Waldorf Succeeds in Public Schools" by Claudia M. Lenart. Conscious Choice, August 2000.

• "Contrarian finding: Computers are a drag on learning" by G. Jeffrey MacDonald, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 December, 2004.

• "Waldorf Education. Looking into the educational system developed by Rudolf Steiner" by Diane and Robert Gilman. In Context: A Quarterly of Humane Sustainable Culture, Summer 1984.

• "The Wisdom of Waldorf: Education for the Future" by Rahima Baldwin Dancy, Mothering Magazine, March/April 2004.

• "Who was Rudolf Steiner and what were his revolutionary teaching ideas?" Richard Garner, Education Editor, The Independent

• "Schooled in spirituality" by Chrisanne Beckner. Sacramento News and Review, February 03, 2005.

• "Diplomats tour `eco-campuses,' laud progress" by Mo Yan-chih, Taipei Times, January 23rd, 2005.

• Research Monograph Review of Waldorf Science

• "Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925)" by Robert Todd Carroll, editor of The Skeptics Dictionary.

Research journals

Steiner's educational philosophy is continually being developed further. Journals of note publishing such material include

• Erziehungskunst, the organ of the German Association of Waldorf Schools
• Paideia, the journal of the Steiner-Waldorf Schools Fellowship in Britain.
• Research Bulletin of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America

Associations of Waldorf Schools

• Association of Waldorf Schools of North America
• Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship of the UK and Ireland
• Southern African Federation of Waldorf Schools

Finding a Waldorf School

• A list of Waldorf Schools worldwide (in pdf form)
• A list of Waldorf Schools in the US
• A list of Waldorf Schools in Germany
• Starting a Waldorf School

Teacher training programs

• Antioch New England Graduate School
• Center for Anthroposophy in Wilton, New Hampshire
• Emerson College in Forest Row, Sussex, England
• Rudolf Steiner Centre Toronto, Canada
• Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California
• Sunbridge College in Chestnut Ridge, New York
• The University of Plymouth, England
• West Coast Institute for Studies in Anthroposophy, Vancouver, Canada
• Sound Circle Center for Art, Seattle, Washington

Homeschooling

• Waldorf World's guide to homeschooling

Special Education

• Camphill Communities Intentional communities of people with disabilities that recognize the potential, dignity, spiritual integrity, and contributions of each individual.

Bibliography

Works by Rudolf Steiner

• Education: An Introductory Reader (Christopher Clouder, ed.), Sophia Books (March 2004), ISBN 1-85584-118-5. Collection of relevant works by Steiner on education.
• The Education of the Child, and early Lectures on Education (Foundations of Waldorf Education, 25), ISBN 0-88010-414-7. Includes Steiner's first descriptions of child development, originally published as a small booklet.
• The Foundations of Human Experience, ISBN 0-88010-392-2; also known as The Study of Man these fundamental lectures on education were given to the teachers just before the opening of the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart in 1919.

Note: all of Steiner's lectures on Waldorf education are available in PDF form at this research site

Works by other authors

• Aeppli, W., The Developing Child ISBN 0-88010-491-0

• Armon J: The Waldorf Curriculum as a Framework for Moral Education: One dimension of a fourfold system. Annual Meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago, 1997.

• Bärtges, C. and Lyons, N.: Educating as an Art, NY 2003 ISBN 0-88010-531-3

• Biehl, J. 'Ecology' and the Modernization of Fascism in the German Ultra-right

• Clouder, C. and Rawson, M., Waldorf Education ISBN 0-86315-396-8

• Cusick, L, Waldorf Parenting Handbook ISBN 0-916786-75-7

• Edmonds, Francis, An Introduction to Steiner Education ISBN 1-85584-172-X

• Gardner, John F., Education in Search of the Spirit: Essays on American Education ISBN 0-88010-439-2

• Gloeckler, Michaela: A Healing Education, Rudolf Steiner College Press, Fair Oaks, 1989

• Harwood, A. C.: The Recovery of Man in Childhood ISBN 0-913098-53-1

• Masters, Brien, Adventures in Steiner Education ISBN 1-85584-153-3

• Thomas William Nielsen, Rudolf Steiner's Pedagogy Of Imagination: A Case Study Of Holistic Education, Peter Lang Pub Inc 2004 ISBN 3039103423

• Nobel, Agnes, Educating through Art: The Steiner School Approach

• Petrash, Jack, (2002): Understanding Waldorf Education: Teaching from the Inside Out ISBN 0-87659-246-9

• Querido, René, Creativity in Education ISBN 0-930420-05-5

• Querido, René, The Esoteric Background of Waldorf Education

• Spock, Marjorie, Teaching as a Lively Art ISBN 0-88010-127-X

• Staudenmaier, Peter, Fascist Ecology: The "Green Wing" of the Nazi Party and its Historical Antecedents

• Wilkinson, R. (1996): The Spiritual Basis of Steiner Education. London: Sophia Books ISBN 1-85584-065-0