Waldorf Education

Education can be defined as the method of nurturing learning or obtaining knowledge, abilities, principles, and personal growth. According to Wikipedia, any experiences that have a developmental outcome on the way one thinks, feels, or acts can be considered educational. The concept of education is as old as humankind, it is estimated that education began around prehistory times, with parents teaching social skills to the young. The term can be categorized into two: formal education and unconventional education. Formal education usually happens in a structured environment such as a classroom, with a certified tutor to guide them. Formal education has several categories, early childhood, primary, secondary, tertiary, which is the higher education stage, vocational, and special. While vocational education is about apprenticeship or internship, special education is for individuals that have disabilities. On the other hand, the unconventional forms of education include alternative education, indigenous education, informal learning, self-directed learning, evidence-based, lastly open learning, and electronic technology. When one analyzes the alternative education in a more detailed way, Waldorf education or Steiner education can be seen as one of the sub-categories. 

Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was born on 27 February 1861, in now Croatia. He was a philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist, which is a term for an individual who is interested in a range of loosely related ideas and movements developed in Western societies. As a youngster, Steiner started giving private lessons for the Berlin Arbeiterbildungsschule, an education center for working-class adults. In 1907, he published an essay titled “The Education of the Child” in which he talked about his approach to education. Emil Molt invited Steiner to lecture workers in his cigarette factory in 1919, this occasion resulted in Steiner establishing the first Waldorf School. In conjunction with all of the information that is stated before, Waldorf education or Steiner education aspires to improve students’ academic, creative, and pragmatic skills with a focus on the holistic manners which seeks to absorb all aspects of the learner, including mind, body, and spirit. The Waldorf School was a co-educational school, thus educating children from outside the factory and included a diverse social spectrum of adolescents, becoming the first comprehensive institution serving all genders, abilities, and social classes in Germany. With the conferences Steiner gave at Oxford University in 1922, his education methods started to get recognition in the UK. Just 3 years later, he established the first school in England, Michael Hall. In 1928, the United States had a Waldorf School, called the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City. There are around 1000 schools worldwide right now. 

The educational theory and practice of Steiner strongly focus on providing an education that allows children to become free human beings, and help them to embody their “unfolding spiritual identity”. Even the architecture of the schools goes hand in hand with Steiner’s idea of education. They frequently have walls that are painted in subtle colors with different angles, to avoid the possible trapped in feeling. The assessment in Waldorf Schools concentrates on reports of individual academic advancement and personalized development. Rather than standardized tests, students get assessed on portfolio work and discussions with their teachers. Until students are 14-15, at the age of enrolling in high school, there are not given letter grades as the emphasis is not on the academic progress but the personal growth. It is noted that none of the assessments in the Waldorf Schools are anxiety-producing experiences contrary to the traditional schools and education systems. In addition, the curriculums of these schools are crucial as well. Even though they do not have to follow a certain curriculum that the government provides, they do follow the National Curriculum, which is a common type of study. Furthermore, the main critical academic subjects are given in the morning with a two-hour block lesson for several weeks. Other skills that are not given importance in regular schools such as art, music, gardening, and mythology are the backbones of Waldorf Schools. All of the elementary students learn a plethora of fine and practical arts like painting, drawing, sculpting, knitting, weaving, and crocheting. Older pupils build up to these previously learned skills and practice sewing, wood and stone carving, metalwork, book-binding, and doll making. Additionally, some disciplines are unique to the Waldorf Schools. For example, eurythmy is an expressive movement of art that was originated in the early 20th century. It is accompanied by spoken texts or music that fuses drama and dance to achieve a “sense of integration and harmony”. 

All things considered, Waldorf education or Steiner education is one of the widely known alternatives in the non-traditional teaching sector. Established by Rudolf Steiner in 1919, Waldorf Schools centralize the spiritual improvements of the pupils more than academic success. Students do not get assessed through standardized tests but portfolio work, and all intelligence types are considered, additionally, the curriculum consists of both academic subjects and practical skills. In my opinion, Waldorf education seems extremely proficient. Even though the academic subjects are important, adjusting the whole curriculum and the whole lives of the students to an academic career is not ideal for everybody. Spirituality is one of the backbones of these schools and for the people who practice or believe in spirituality, it is an opportunity of a lifetime.