Handbook of Research on Waldorf Education

557 Pages·2023·14.801 MB·English

by  Jost Schieren

HANDBOOK OF RESEARCH ON
WALDORF EDUCATION
Waldorf Education: An all-round, balanced approach to education that is equally concerned with
intellectual-cognitive and artistic-creative learning. A practice- and experience-based pedagogy. Non-
selective and open to all children and young people; offering a stress-free, secure learning environment
across 12 grades; embedded in a community of students, teachers, and parents. An alternative education
that has been successfully practiced for over a century.
The first Waldorf School was founded in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1919. Today, Waldorf Education
is practiced in all countries and cultures around the world: in over 1,000 schools, more than 2,000
kindergartens, and numerous centers for special needs education. This makes Waldorf Education the
most prevalent alternative approach to teaching. And yet, despite the success and (now empirically
validated) recognition that Waldorf schools enjoy, the theory underlying them remains controversial.
Within the academic debate, Waldorf Education is seen as ideologic and unscientific.
This publication sets out to bring clarity to this debate: Renowned researchers explain and discuss
Waldorf Education’s foundations in relation to the current discourse on education and core disciplines
such as theory of knowledge, anthropology, developmental psychology, learning theory, and the theory
of professions. This scientific inquiry into Waldorf Education is breaking new ground, casting light on
its fascinating humanistic ideal and holistic potential.
Jost Schieren is the Dean and Director of the Institute for School Pedagogy and Teacher Training,
Department of Education, Head of the Master of Arts in Pedagogy with a focus on Waldorf Pedagogy/
School and Teaching, and Head of the Graduate School in Waldorf Pedagogy, at Alanus University,
Germany.

HANDBOOK OF RESEARCH ON
WALDORF EDUCATION
Edited by Jost Schieren
Designed cover image: Chalk image: Nola Bunke
Boy with Prism Image: Angelika Lonnemann
Classroom image: Charlotte Fischer
First published in English 2023 by Routledge
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and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Jost Schieren; individual chapters, the contributors
Translations completed by:
Karin Di Giacomo, Front matter, Contributors, Epilogue, and chapters 1 through 4;
Margot Saars, chapters 5 through 9, and cover materials
The right of Jost Schieren to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Published in German by Beltz Juventa 2016
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Schieren, Jost, 1963- editor.
Title: Handbook of research on Waldorf education / edited by Jost Schieren.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2022036579 | ISBN 9781032034706 (Hardback) |
ISBN 9781032034683 (Paperback) | ISBN 9781003187431 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Waldorf method of education. | Anthroposophy.
Classification: LCC LB1029.W34 H36 2023 | DDC 371.39/1--dc23/eng/20220825
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022036579
ISBN: 978-1-032-03470-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-03468-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-18743-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003187431
Typeset in Bembo
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
Jost Schieren
1 Critique [academic criticism] from the perspective of educational science 1
2 Empirical turnaround 3
3 Waldorf education in academic context 4
4 Issues of reception 6
5 Research colloquium “Waldorf Education and Educational Science” 7
CHAPTER 1
Epistemology 13
Introduction 15
Jost Schieren
Epistemological Foundations of Waldorf Education 17
Johannes Wagemann
1 Introduction 17
2 Background in the history of cognition and science 18
3 Rudolf Steiner’s epistemology 25
4 Relevance of Steiner’s epistemology in the philosophy of education 38
CHAPTER 2
Anthropology 49
Introduction 51
Jost Schieren
v
Contents
Pedagogic Anthropology in Educational Science and Waldorf Education 53
Christian Rittelmeyer
1 On the concept of pedagogic anthropology 53
2 Problems of classical anthropologies illustrated in the example:
“Sensualism” vs. “Rationalism” 54
3 Questioning the search for “The Human Being”: The emergence
of historic pedagogic anthropology 58
4 Anthropologies in educational science and the study of the human being
in Waldorf education: Differences and possible rapprochements 61
Freedom as an Anthropological Perspective: On the Concept of Man
in Waldorf Education 68
Jost Schieren
1 Historic pedagogic anthropology 68
2 Waldorf education 70
3 Soul observation in the work of Herbert Witzenmann 73
4 Perceiving and thinking 74
5 Terminology of Waldorf education 77
6 Summary and outlook 80
The Study of Man and Educational Practice 85
Albert Schmelzer
1 Introduction: Good practice—Anachronistic ideology? 85
2 Rudolf Steiner’s pedagogic anthropology 85
3 On the transformation of Waldorf education’s pedagogic
anthropology into teaching practice 87
4 The motif 87
5 Methodic consciousness 89
6 Conclusion 91
CHAPTER 3
Developmental Psychology 95
Introduction 97
Albert Schmelzer
Attempts to Understand the Development of Children, Adolescents,
and Adults 101
Christian Rittelmeyer
1 Fundamental aspects of an interdisciplinary discourse 101
2 Developmental psychology “insights” in historic review 103
3 Possibilities of a critical discourse on the topic “Waldorf education and developmental
psychology”: Illustrated by the example of developmental theories 108
vi
Contents
Discussion of Rudolf Steiner’s Developmental Psychology 119
Albert Schmelzer
1 The 1980s 119
2 The 1990s 122
3 Newer publications 122
4 Conclusion 124
Approaches to Substantiating the Concept of Seven-Year Cycles
of Development in Waldorf Education 128
Peter Loebell
1 Introductory remarks 128
2 The development of the child as the basis for Waldorf education 128
3 The transition around the seventh year of life 130
4 Learning in the second seven-year cycle 134
5 Transition to the third seven-year cycle 136
6 Summary: The concept of the seven-year cycles as a foundation for education 140
Waldorf Education and Developmental Psychology in Early Childhood 145
Walter Riethmüller
1 The concept of development in Waldorf education 145
2 The concept of “I” 146
3 Imitation and modeling 148
4 Surroundings and the formation of self 149
5 Connections among the development of body, soul, and spirit 150
6 The child as co-creator of his/her life world: Development as dialog 151
7 Attachment research 152
8 Conclusion 152
The Rubicon as a Developmental Phenomenon in Middle Childhood 158
Axel Föller-Mancini and Bettina Berger
1 History of the term Rubicon 158
2 Child development in the light of spiritual science 160
3 The Rubicon as a watershed moment in the second seven-year cycle 162
4 Excursus: The Rubicon and Oevermann’s crisis typology 166
5 Rubicon—Middle childhood: Perspectives from developmental
psychology and anthropology 168
Adolescence and the Findings of Brain Research 176
Wenzel M. Götte
1 Introduction 176
2 Remarks on problems in interpreting the results of neuroscience research 177
3 Neuroscience research findings relevant to pedagogy 178
4 Select examples from brain research 182
vii
Contents
5 On the reception of neuroscientific studies 189
6 Areas of potential discourse 193
7 Conclusion and outlook 195
CHAPTER 4
Learning Theory 203
Introduction 205
Peter Loebell
Learning from the Perspective of Educational Science 209
Wolfgang Nieke
1 Our learning concept model is imported from psychology 209
2 R easons for needing a new definition of the concept of learning
from a perspective of educational sciences 211
3 F ive approaches to a new definition of learning from the perspective
of educational sciences 213
4 Reasons for learning: Motivation, interest, relevance 218
5 L earning—A cultural science perspective, illustrated by the example
of learning resistance and equal opportunity 219
6 Learning and teaching 220
7 Learning in freedom 221
8 Learning with the group and against it 222
9 An educated state of being as a result of learning 224
10 Human learning: Independent of content or category-specific? 225
11 Pedagogical consequence: Learning requires meaning and generates it 228
Waldorf Education and Learning Research: Convergences and Differences 234
Peter Loebell
1 Waldorf education in the context of different learning theories 234
2 Learning in the context of Waldorf education 237
3 Summary and outlook 251
Learning in Waldorf Education 257
Jost Schieren
1 Learning theories 257
2 Rudolf Steiner’s teachings on imagination 258
3 Disposition and condition 259
4 Imagination and will 260
5 Case study: Agricultural internship 261
6 Aspects of learning 261
7 “Mother Holle” 266
8 Summary 267
viii
Contents
CHAPTER 5
The Art of Teaching 269
Teaching Approaches in Waldorf Education 271
Wilfried Sommer
1 Introduction 271
2 Connections and divisions in educational theory 273
3 The model of main lesson teaching in Waldorf schools 277
4 Main lesson teaching as performative education 295
5 Conclusion 299
The Waldorf Curriculum: Curriculum, Teaching Plan, or Guideline? 303
M. Michael Zech
1 Curriculum and teacher autonomy in Waldorf education 303
2 Concept continuity and heterogeneity 305
3 Attempt at defining the Waldorf curriculum in terms of education science 309
4 The future of the curriculum and of curriculum development in
Waldorf schools 314
CHAPTER 6
Theory of Professions 319
Introduction 321
Walter Riethmüller
The Professional Image of the Waldorf Grades Teacher 323
Walter Riethmüller
1 Outline of recent research 323
2 The Waldorf grades teacher from the point of view of professions theory 325
3 The grades teacher principle 327
4 The concept of authority in Waldorf education 329
5 Reflections from the point of view of professions theory 330
6 Outlook and conclusions 332
Teacher Competencies and Professional Success: Ex-post Findings from
Dirk Randoll’s Waldorf Teacher Study 337
Jürgen Peters
1 Problem, goals, and method 337
2 General findings 338
3 Competences and professional success 340
4 The link between competences and resilience 343
5 Conclusion 344
ix