In: Educar en Revista, Numero 56, 2015.
ABSTRACT
Waldorf education began in 1919 with the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart
and nowadays is widespread in many countries all over the world. Empir-
ical research, however, has been rare until the early nineties and Waldorf
education has not been discussed within educational science so far. This has
changed during the last decades. This article reviews the results of surveys
during the last 20 years and is mainly focused on German Waldorf Schools,
because most investigations have been done in this field. Findings are re-
ported with respect to the following central aspects of Waldorf education:
the holistic and integrative approach, the self-governance in the organization
of the Waldorf schools, the Waldorf curriculum, and the principle of class
teachers from 1st to 8th grade. Furthermore, Waldorf education also provides
its own unique teacher training. All of these aspects have been explored and
evaluated from different points of view and with different methods. The
results show strengths as well as weaknesses of Waldorf education in the
daily practice in schools, which indicates the kinds of challenges Waldorf
education will have to face in the upcoming decades. The authors themselves
have contributed in several investigations to the field of Waldorf education.