Education policy is invariably seen as a closely guarded national, or state affair, on a similar sort of footing to security and defence. And in our times – the first half of the 21^st century – the ideals, the practices and the policies that drive education seem to jar with each other and create a troubling dissonance, if not a head-on collision.

It often seems as though education, as legislated by governments, is inappropriately aligned with «silver bullet» notions of economic growth, competition and technological progress, rather than human health and development, human well-being and cooperation, liberty and social justice.

Education, as required by the state, often seems to ape the dynamics of the capitalist system which, itself, seems to function like a model of «evolution by competition». And here, in the 21^st century, tidal waves of globalisation lap against every shore, while the background din of uniformity, standardisation and regulation whines in the breeze.

How strange that education has come to be a dwelling place for conservative attitudes in relation to how we envisage a future. The net outcome of this attitudinal stance is that more focus is directed to how we might preserve the past, rather than how we might welcome the future.

Education is afflicted by endless reforms, yet with no significant change in pedagogy. Endless reform, but nothing radical; no root change. The default position over the last few centuries is that those who get the points win the prizes.

The industrial «factory» model of school, with a singular focus on «academic» outputs and unit costs has, in fact, shown great resilience down the years. The currency provided by the data of the PISA league tables continues to hold a high exchange rate, and the summit of learning aspirations remains the «University».

But are we about to witness, or be part of, an inexorable revolution that will have universal implications for society, education, and even the nature of humanity? Will the quickening surge of exponential change, as manifested in synthetic biology, quantum computing and AIs sweep to one side any remaining attempt at «endless reform, no revolution» in different fields of activity, education included?

In the international Waldorf movement for early childhood, school-aged children, and young people, it is only right that we work to keep our house in order, in as much as we can. Because schools are open now! Children go to school to learn today! Teachers are called to work in the present, not all the tomorrows we can imagine, yet may never come.

However, in reflecting on practice, and thinking through the essential characteristics that make a Waldorf school, a Waldorf school, it seems also necessary to hold wider horizons in mind, bearing in mind the scope and scale of the changes and challenges that may lie ahead.

For example, are we soon heading into a post-school future? Will education – curriculum, lessons, timetable, teachers – be replaced by therapy, recovery and «life assistants»? In the coming years, might education have to metamorphose into something akin to primary health care and well-being? Will knowledge and insight into childhood, children and learning simply evaporate from the social discourse, to be replaced by highly personalised learning and well-being algorithms?

Are classroom, teacher and school on the wane, never to return? If curriculum and school subjects are sub-contracted out to devices and AIs, will the programme of learning tilt towards sensory development, speaking & listening, movement – embodiment – nutrition and socialising. After all, if I am soon to have a Personal AI, or a personal PA device, why learn to spell? Or write? Let alone work!

In these days, we are presented with a bewildering mosaic of new and shifting indicators. According to one’s perspective and temperamental dispositions, we are seemingly heading into paradigmatic or apocalyptic change, or both. A few of these arguably, «telling», signs of the times are summarised here:

• The Android «smart» phone is a mere teenager, having been launched in 2008, 16 years ago. By comparison, the world wide web (www) appeared a whole generation back, in 1989-1990, following research work undertaken by the British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland.8 years after appearing, Tik Tok has 900 million users world-wide.
• In July 2023, from the UN’s AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, The Guardian newspaper¹ reported that, according to Prof Stuart Russell – British computer scientist based at the University of California, Berkeley – recent advances in AI are set to spell the end of the traditional school classroom. Russell shared view that personalised ChatGPT-style tutors have the potential to hugely enrich education and widen global access by delivering personalised tuition to every household with a smartphone. The technology could feasibly deliver «most material through to the end of high school», he said. 
• Also in 2023, Mustafa Suleyman, son of a nurse and a London taxi-driver, and CEO of Microsoft AL, published The Coming Wave from the belly of the dragon. One of the many questions he posed is whether, in the next decade, humanity will be able to forge a narrow path between catastrophe and dystopia?

But, but, but . . .

• In the early 1800s, fewer than 1 in 5 adults had some basic education. Education was a luxury. In whatever part of the world, education was available only to a small elite.
• In the last couple of centuries, literacy levels for the world’s population have risen drastically. While only one in ten people in the world could read and write in 1820, that figure has been reversed, with just 10% of the global population unable to read at a basic level in the third decade of the 21^st century.²
• However, according to the British charity, Save the Children³, in 2023, an estimated 468 million children, or more than 1 in 6 children worldwide live in areas affected by armed conflict.
• In England, almost 120,000 children of compulsory school age (5+), were recorded as missing education at some point in 2022/23. This is a 25% increase from 2021/22. Figures from the UK Department of Education⁴ also showed a surge in the number of children home educated in the same year – 2022/23. 
• In the last three years, the likelihood of young people having a mental health problem in the UK has increased by 50%. The Good Childhood Report for 2022⁵ shows that children's happiness in the UK continues to decline. In a classroom of 30 pupils, 5 children are likely to have a mental health problem.Meanwhile, over the past year, psychotherapists operating on TikTok have amassed millions of followers and likes. 
• According to a survey by the UK National Health Service⁶, at any one time, 20% of children and young people in England aged eight to 25 had a probable mental disorder in 2023.
• In October 2024, a report published on the eve of World Teachers’ Day, indicated that globally, 44 million additional teachers are needed to achieve sustainable development goal 4⁷and deliver universal primary and secondary education for all children and young people by 2030.⁸
• Across Europe, according to national estimates, there is a projected a shortfall of 25,000 teachers in Germany by 2025, and 30,000 in Portugal by 2030, while there are currently 4,000 vacant teaching posts in France.⁹

Do these headlines signpost a dystopian future? Will the actors and agencies be able to agree to come together to crack the dual «containment problem» of climate and technology? Is school, as Alice Cooper (1972), claimed, «out for ever».

Or could it be that these scenarios – bewildering, uncertain and daunting as they may seem – present a golden opportunity to parents, educators, children and young people? When governments and public service providers come calling, will we – members of the Waldorf movement and community – have the imagination, the commitment and the where-with-all to provide a life-enabling approach to care and learning, and to play our parts in realising the task of Waldorf education in the 21^st century – an art of education for our times.

On 7^th September 1919, at an event to mark the opening of the «Waldorf» School, Steiner gave an address for parents, teachers, and children. In his comments, he laid out the essence of the task: «Science that comes alive! Art that comes alive! Religion that comes alive! In the end, that is what education is.» The work continues.

Trevor Mepham

30^th October 2024