Learning and Growing Up in the Age of Digitalization

Alanus University researchers publish first study on the educational experiences of ‘Millennials’ at German Waldorf schools

The coronavirus crisis makes it clear how important interpersonal contact and community are – especially for young people. In distance learning, they are currently experiencing the limitations of digital learning very clearly and are realizing that an educational institution is more than just a place for imparting knowledge and preparing students to enter the professional world. But what exactly else should school provide?

Waldorf schools have found answers to this that are repeatedly polarizing in society, but also seem very contemporary in times of pandemic and climate crisis: social interaction between learners and teachers is at the heart of a holistic pedagogy that recognizes children with their personal strengths and promotes not only intellectual but also creative, artistic, practical, and social abilities. Embedded in a strong school community, education and personal development are supported in this way: everyone should understand themselves as shaping their own life and society – with humanity and in an appreciative relationship with nature.

Does the Waldorf school live up to this aspiration? Does its pedagogy, first formulated in 1919, fit into our modern society? And: What challenges does it have to face today? To find out, a research team at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Alfter near Bonn surveyed more than 3,000 graduates of the 254 German Waldorf schools. Almost 2,000 of them belong to the “Millennials” generation, whose members were born between 1980 and 2002 and grew up in a predominantly digitalized environment. The editors Dirk Randoll and Jürgen Peters summarize their experiences, assessments, and life paths in the volume “We Went to Waldorf School,” which has now been published by Beltz Juventa.

Positive memories of school years
The most important things they learned or experienced as Waldorf students, according to the Millennials surveyed in the study, were joy in learning, a broad range of learning opportunities, appreciation of the individual, as well as a good atmosphere and social togetherness. “Overall, we found that Waldorf graduates associate a great deal of positive experience with their school years,” says Randoll, Professor of Empirical Social Research at Alanus University. “This is also underlined by the fact that, according to the survey, nine out of ten former students would choose a Waldorf school again today,” adds Jürgen Peters, who works at Alanus University as a lecturer for special tasks. “Three quarters of respondents with children even send their own children to a Waldorf school or intend to do so.”

One reason for this apparently lies in what distinguishes Waldorf schools in Germany from other types of schools: students are taught continuously in the same class group from the beginning until graduation in grade 12 or 13. The effect of this concept, which is of great importance to 90 percent of respondents, can be seen in the study, among other things, in assessments of the school’s influence on social behavior: more than 85 percent attribute their ability to be considerate of weaker individuals and to work together as a team to their time at Waldorf school.

Creativity, personal development, and delayed performance pressure
When asked about their own parents’ reasons for choosing the school, around half of the alumni cite educational motives: above all, lessons in music, arts, crafts, and practical subjects, the holistically oriented learning environment, and the promotion of personal development had spoken in favor of the Waldorf school – distinctive features of this type of school that former students also emphasize positively in retrospect. More than 90 percent consider craft-based and music and arts education to be important or very important. “More than 95 percent,” says Randoll, “state in this context that the school promoted the development of their creative abilities.”

To determine whether Waldorf schools can also strengthen personality development beyond this, the research team, which also includes Ines Graudenz, a psychologist with a doctorate, asks, for example, about the former students’ social engagement. According to the study, they are involved in voluntary or political activities more often than average: while just under 16 percent of the general population are socially engaged on average, more than twice as many Waldorf graduates are. About a quarter of respondents also state that they are politically active. The high level of agreement regarding positive effects on self-confidence can also, as Randoll points out, be understood as an indication of effective personal development. Furthermore, the majority of respondents confirmed having learned a mindful approach to nature at Waldorf school: “80 percent emphasize that their school years fostered a sense of connection and responsibility for the environment,” Peters specifies. This is made possible, among other things, by experiences in and with nature, for example in the school garden or as part of the agricultural internship.

Another factor that, according to the study, speaks in favor of Waldorf schools in the eyes of many parents is the low performance pressure. A distinction must be made here, Randoll emphasizes: “While children and adolescents have time for their own exploratory learning up to grade 10, and as many senses as possible are addressed and encouraged in everyday learning, upper secondary school introduces a learning culture characterized by learning predefined and reproducible content in order to prepare for state qualifications.” Accordingly, 80 percent of the former students surveyed state that they were able to learn free from performance pressure, but that in upper secondary school they were confronted with demands for which they did not feel sufficiently prepared. This is consistent with the high proportion of tutoring, which about half of the students made use of. “Most of it in mathematics and foreign languages before central final examinations such as the Abitur or the entrance qualification for universities of applied sciences,” Randoll specifies.

Teacher education and digital media as a challenge
In the assessment of teachers, the study shows noticeable differences between evaluations of human-pedagogical and subject-specific abilities: “For most respondents – around 87 percent – the student-teacher relationship is characterized by mutual appreciation,” reports Peters. The teachers’ subject-specific qualifications, especially at upper secondary level, are assessed more cautiously. “It fully applies for just under 24 percent of respondents and rather applies for just under 61 percent,” the researcher quotes from the study. In particular, subject expertise in the natural sciences among upper secondary teachers is criticized here.

Walter Riethmüller from the Association of Waldorf Schools comments on this in a concluding chapter of the study. In addition to recruiting competent subject teachers for upper secondary school, he also sees teacher education as an “ongoing task” that has already been worked on continuously and with considerable financial investment for 15 years. “At this point, the study provides important information and new food for thought,” explains Andreas Rebmann from the Software AG Foundation, which funded the study together with the Association of Waldorf Schools. “On this basis, we will be able to provide even more targeted impetus in future within the framework of our support for the academic education and continuing professional development of Waldorf teachers.”

One point that graduates assess rather moderately in several places in the study is the handling of digital media. For more than half of respondents, Waldorf school had no influence or a rather unfavorable influence on the development of this ability. Against this background, it is not surprising that one third sees digitalization as an important challenge for Waldorf schools. The demand to integrate new media and a reflective approach to them into the curriculum had “however already been met several years ago,” Walter Riethmüller emphasizes. He notes: “At the time the questionnaires were collected, however, the effects had obviously not yet reached where they belong, namely everyday school life.” The question of how digital media should be incorporated and the right time for their use, the Waldorf educator stresses, remains pressing.

All in all, the study by Randoll and Peters illustrates that Waldorf schools foster creativity, strong social skills, and team spirit in young people and send many of them out into the world with the desire to take responsibility for society and the environment. In doing so, Waldorf education represents an alternative to an economized understanding of education, the effectiveness of which is confirmed by its graduates. “In view of the crises of our time,” the authors state, “it cannot be ruled out that this model for educational institutions will become increasingly important in the present and in the future.”

Randoll, Dirk / Peters, Jürgen (eds.): “We Went to Waldorf School.” Former students as experts in their own right. Beltz Juventa. 143 pages, ISBN: 978-3-7799-6246-5

Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences
Shaping society so that it is fit for the future – under this guiding principle, Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences promotes the academic and personal education of the whole person. Through the interaction of art and science, the university provides impetus and opens spaces for sustainable social transformation. The state-recognized university of the arts has two campuses in Alfter on the border with the city of Bonn and a study center in Mannheim. It offers degree programs in architecture, fine arts, acting, eurythmy, art therapy, education, business administration, and philosophy; its Department of Educational Sciences has the right to award doctorates. Around 1,900 students are currently enrolled, and all degrees are state-recognized. www.alanus.edu

Association of Waldorf Schools e.V.
The current 254 German Waldorf and Rudolf Steiner schools have joined together in the Association of Waldorf Schools e.V. (BdFWS), based in Stuttgart, where the first Waldorf school opened in 1919. In Germany, 90,000 students attend a Waldorf school. The federal association leaves the autonomy of each individual Waldorf school untouched, but represents shared tasks and interests. www.waldorfschule.de

Software AG Foundation
With assets of more than 1.2 billion euros, the Software AG Foundation (SAGST) is one of Germany’s largest funding foundations. It is not a corporate foundation, but a major shareholder of Software AG. It was established by company founder Dr. h. c. Peter Schnell, who transferred all shares in the IT company to the foundation in the 1990s. Since then, SAGST has supported projects by independent non-profit organizations in Europe and Brazil that serve the common good exclusively and directly. One of its focal areas is “upbringing and education.” Against this background, SAGST supports, among other things, progressive educational concepts and, in particular, the education and continuing professional development of Waldorf teachers. www.sagst.de