The Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum has launched with great enthusiasm a cross-country research project on the topic of «Pedagogy and Resilience», which will take place in 2022-2023. We cordially invite former and current students to participate in this project.
A central question of the project is how Waldorf schools (also known as Rudolf Steiner schools in some countries) can contribute to the promotion of resilience among their students, in a society that is changing continuously, either gradually or suddenly. Whether there are global or country-specific issues, they impact on people’s lives in the long term and cause outcomes that are not foreseeable today. Therefore, the challenge arises as how to prepare young people for their future. Implicitly, it calls for considering the needs and competences of educators for their work with children and young people. The project is focused on hearing the voices of those who are current or former students of Waldorf or Rudolf Steiner schools.
The research will be focused on the context of the pedagogical happening – grounded on the statement Rudolf Steiner’s that «the whole teaching and educational method itself is oriented towards having a healing influence on the child.» [1] Out of these considerations, the voice of pupils and alumni of Waldorf/Rudolf Steiner schools is what we would like to listen at, so we can identify the attributes and qualities that contribute to being «resilient».
Therefore, for the coming months of 2022 we will lead a set of interviews and conversations that will create the foundation of the main steps of the project, which will take place in 2023, in the first instance. The project will have various phases and will eventually take the form of online questionnaire-based surveys, in different languages, addressed to pupils of upper grades aged 16 and over and alumni of your school. Thus, you may receive the invitation to take part in this project at various times of either 2022 or 2023.
We rely on your participation and hope that our work will serve you and the Waldorf/Steiner Schools movement.
Ioana Viscrianu
[1] Steiner, Rudolf (1923). Conferences with the teachers of the Free Waldorf School in Stuttgart, 1919 to 1924, in 3 volumes, lecture given on the 6th of February 1923.