Empirical Education Study: “Learned for Life” – The Distinctive Educational Path of the Waldorf Hibernia School

Empirical Education Study: “Learned for Life” – The Distinctive Educational Path of the Waldorf Hibernia School

The Hibernia School in Herne is a Waldorf school with integrated vocational training that leads to a “double qualification”: a skilled worker’s certificate and the Abitur. The survey of former students of the Hibernia School aimed to examine, using an open approach, the significance of this “double qualification” for their subsequent biographical development. The central question was: How did the former students assess this educational path after more than 30 years, looking back on their lives to date, and what particular significance did the vocational qualification have in this context?

To this end, eight narrative interviews were conducted in autumn 2017 with graduates from the pilot class of the former state model project (90 students), who graduated from the Hibernia School in Herne in 1982. The opening question in each interview was: “How did your subsequent professional path develop, and what significance does the specific Hibernia education have from today’s perspective?”

The results were presented at the Herne Education Congress in January 2018; a publication is in preparation. In the interviews, aspects that occur at all Waldorf schools were highlighted on the one hand, and on the other hand those relating to the Hibernia-specific integration of vocational education. Among other things, it became clear that practical vocational activity has particular significance for the individualization of learning processes and competence development and leads to a positive, success-oriented attitude toward life.

With regard to Waldorf educational practice in general, the respondents particularly valued the following aspects: a sense of security at school, caring teacher personalities, a diversity of learning content, and the experience of vitality at school, as can be considered typical of all Waldorf schools.

Regarding the Hibernia-specific aspects of vocational education, the respondents particularly emphasized:

• The intensive and objectifying quality of learning through the mutual correction of thinking and acting, of theory and practice, in practical vocational activity
• Experiences with the world of work outside school as arriving in and proving oneself in life
• The development of individualized strategies and competencies in dealing with challenges
• The social significance of work and occupation

The study was led by Prof. Dr. Peter Schneider and Dr. Jürgen Peters from Alanus University.

Photo: Niklas Stahlhamma