Rudolf Steiner: Waldorf Educational Philosophy

Rudolf Steiner

The person that I chose to research is Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the Waldorf educational philosophy.  He was an Austrian philosopher who lived from 1861 until 1925.  He was the founder of Anthroposophy, which is the belief that a person can attain experience of the spiritual world.  Steiner was also known to be a skilled architect, scientist, lecturer, writer, designer, and painter.   


The Waldorf education is based on the thought that learning should integrate practical, artistic, and conceptual elements to be successful.  Strong emphasis is placed on the role of imagination, and children are encouraged to use a combination of a creative and analytical approach to learning.  This type of learning allows for each individual student to pick their own unique path of moral learning.  Teaching in the Waldorf education systems allows for a great deal of freedom for teachers in the curriculum that is more based on children's academic, emotional, and physical development as opposed to high standardized test scores.  The Waldorf education system also emphasizes the importance of kindergarten and how it should be an imaginative experience for students with use of outdoor time, nature lessons, songs, story time, and fun games.  As students get older they will continue with visual arts, drama, and music, and when they reach high school, they will have specialized teachers for each subject.  At all times the school aims for socially responsible, cultural, compassionate, and respectful individuals. These types of schools are more commonly found in areas of Europe and the amounts have been increasing rapidly.  


I chose to write about Rudolf Steiner because from reading about him it seems like he was very smart and talented, so I want to know more about his educational views.  Also I had previously heard about the Waldorf educational philosophy.  What I heard seemed interesting, so I wanted to research it for this blog to learn more about this particular system.  It's interesting how we put children into schools, all controlled by a single standardized curriculum.  These types of systems do take certain aspects of uniqueness from children, because they are expected to all perform the same.  It also give strict curriculum for teachers to go by, so they cannot express their true creativity in their teaching methods either.  This is why I think the Steiner's Waldorf system is an interesting perspective that could be more successful today.