Abstract
The first Free Waldorf School was established with a fully formed curriculum, educational structure and set of teaching methodologies developed by Rudolf Steiner over a period of three months and immediately implemented when the school opened in September 1919. However, Steiner’s approach to ‘the problem of education’ had long been in gestation and was informed by the accumulation of many different influences: from ancient Greek and Roman societies; the scientific writings of Goethe and eighteenth century German Romanticism; movements in progressive education; and his own lengthy empirical studies into the nature and evolution of the human being in modern society.
Reviewing Steiner Education within the context of other more established and generally well-known educational theories and principles shows that there are many overlapping ideas as well as many innovations unique to the Waldorf approach. These similarities and differences will be presented in this chapter with a discussion of the key elements of Steiner Education juxtaposed with those elements of education that can be considered generally universal in the way schools as we know them today are structured.
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Stehlik, T. (2019). Educational Theories, Principles and Applications. In: Waldorf Schools and the History of Steiner Education. Palgrave Studies in Alternative Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31631-0_2
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