The child took centre stage: the Waldorf school movement, which now spans the globe, began over 100 years ago with a school for working-class children.
It is thanks to Emil Molt that Waldorf schools exist today. The owner of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory opened the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart (Germany) on 7 September 1919 – based on the educational findings of Rudolf Steiner, which had been known since 1906.
A school for all children
With the «Unified Elementary and Secondary School», Molt wanted to help the children of the workers in his factory achieve the «universal human right to education» that had previously been denied. He entrusted Steiner with the development of the educational concept.
This concept did not envisage creating a school exclusively for workers' children or for the children of anthroposophists. The focus should simply be on the child. Their talents and developmental abilities – cognitive, artistic and manual – were to be encouraged.
As an alternative to the state system, a free school was thus created that accepted every child, regardless of social class, nationality, denomination, talent or gender.
Steiner's concept included this from the very beginning:
«Steiner developed the concept of a general education school that would later bring together metalworkers or factory workers, doctors or lawyers on the same school bench from Year 1 to Year 12 without differentiation according to anonymous performance standards,» it says in the article «Waldorfpädagogik: Verbreitung und Motive im 20. Jahrhundert».
Even if Stuttgart was the starting point, Steiner gave his introductory courses in Waldorf education over the years in various European cities such as Dornach, The Hague, Bergen, Hamburg, Budapest, Lisbon, London, Oslo and Vienna. (Here you can find our video lecture series on «Steiner's education courses»)
14 years later, there were 17 Waldorf schools worldwide. In addition to independence from national borders, independence from the state education system was one of the original characteristics of Waldorf education.
According to the article, the authorities of the then German Reich were initially favourable towards Waldorf schools, but this changed from 1933 onwards. From 1934, the authorities imposed rigid admission bans. Between 1936 and 1941, the Waldorf schools were forced to close themselves and other schools.
Numerous Waldorf teachers subsequently emigrated to Switzerland, England or the USA, the report continues.
Today there are Waldorf and Rudolf Steiner schools on every continent (both names are used worldwide). More than 1200 Waldorf and Rudolf Steiner schools operate in around 80 countries and over 1900 Waldorf kindergartens are active in around 70 countries on the basis of Steiner's teachings. (Here you can find the Waldorf World List, a list of all recognised Waldorf and Rudolf Steiner schools worldwide.)
No Waldorf school without tutoring?
Rudolf Steiner's autobiography clearly shows how important his own school and learning experiences were to him.
His first visit to the village school in Pottschach in Lower Austria came to a swift end due to a dispute between his father and the teacher. The child then received his first lessons from his father – he was a railway official – at the station. And although his father was not particularly satisfied with his son's learning results, he managed to encourage him to read at a very early age.
At the age of seven, Steiner, who was born on 27 February 1861 in Kraljevec on the Hungarian-Croatian border, went to school regularly in Neudörfl in Lower Austria. His father, who, like Steiner's mother, came from this region, had been transferred there.
Steiner later wrote in his autobiography: «Even what was presented at school and what I myself had to do there initially passed by without any lively interest in my soul. I had a lot of trouble keeping up in the first two classes. It wasn't until the second half of the second year that things improved. By then I had become a 'good pupil'. I had a strong need that dominated me. I longed for people who I could emulate as role models. There were no such people among the teachers in the first two classes.»
When he was fourteen years old, Steiner had to start giving private lessons for financial reasons. «For fifteen years (...) fate kept me in this occupation.» He owes a great deal to this private tuition, he continues. «By having to pass on the material I had learnt to others, I woke up to it, so to speak.»
The fact that Steiner had to revitalise his knowledge in the tutoring sessions would have ensured the transformation of this half-awake person. On the other hand, tutoring forced him to deal with practical psychology at an early age. «I learnt about the difficulties of human soul development from my pupils.»
(References: «Waldorfpädagogik: Verbreitung und Motive im 20. Jahrhundert» in «Waldorf Pädagogik weltweit», 2001; Tomáš Zdražil: «Freie Waldorfschule Stuttgart» 1919 - 1925; FWS Uhlandshöhe; Rudolf Steiners Autobiografie: GA 28)
Translation: deepl.com