Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner is one of the most controversially judged educational reformers of the twentieth century. Although he received little recognition within his field, his educational thought has had a sustained and profound influence, not only in the development of the Waldorf Schools, but also in healing, socially therapeutic work, psychosomatic medicine, biological-dynamic agriculture, corporate organisation, fine arts, and architecture.

Heiner Ullrich paints a concise and well-grounded portrait of the creator of the anthroposophic doctrine and Waldorf pedagogy. The text describes a wide arc from the intellectual biography of Rudolf Steiner, across his basic ideas on human development and education, to include discussion of the organisation, curriculum, methods and success of the Waldorf Schools.

Heiner Ullrich is Professor of Educational Science at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. He has written on Waldorf pedagogy, on concepts of childhood today and in the past and contributed to anthologies and qualitative empirical studies on secondary schools and private schools in Germany and in the German-speaking world. He is a member of the School Research section of the German Society of Educational Science.

Series Editor's Preface
Foreword
Prologue

Part I: Intellectual Biography
1. Childhood and Youth Abroad: Scholastic Success and Intellectual Curiosity
2. Studies and Work as a Tutor in Vienna: The Basis for an Idealistic Overview
3. Archivist in Weimar: The Philosophy of Goethean Natural Science
4. Writer and Speaker in Berlin: The Free Spirit Converts to Theosophy
5. The Path to Geotheanum: The Elaboration of Anthroposophy as Science, Religion and Art
6. A New Era: The Wisdom Teacher's Move to Social Reform and Renewal of Education

Part II: Critical Exposition of Steiner's Philosophical and Educational Work
7. Goetheanism: The Epistomological Early Works
8. Anthroposophy: An Overview of Steiner's Basic Teachings
9. The Path of Cognition
10. Cosmology: Emanation of the Spirit and the World's Evolution
11. Anthropology: Man's Fourfold Architecture
12. Man's Functional Threefold Structure
13. Biography as Reincarnation and Destinal Chain ('Karma')
14. The Four Temperaments
15. Ages and the Development of the Human Person
16. The Concept of Education
17. The Free Waldorf School
18. A School in the Spirit of Anthorposophy?
19. The Waldorf Pre-School and the Anthroposophical Curative Education

Part III: The Reception and Influence of Steiner's Work
20. Anthroposophy as a Philosophy Without Boundaries
21. Anthroposophy as the Return of Mythical Thought Within Science
22. Anthroposophy - A Modernized Form of Gnosis
23. The Free Waldorf School: A School of Classic Progressive Education?
24. Between Prohibition and Continuation as Experimental State School: The Ambivalent Interest of NSDAP in Waldorf School Practice
25. The Importance of Waldorf Pedagogy for State Schools
26. Waldorf Schools: The Dubious Character of their Fundamentals and the Prerequisites of their Success
27. Learning from the Waldorf Schools - A New Dialogue and its Themes

Part IV: The Relevance of Steiner/Waldorf Schools Today
28. The Global Success of Rudolf Steiner's Pedagogy
29. How Successful are Waldorf Schools? - Evaluation Studies
30. What do Waldorf Pupils do after Graduation and how do they see their School in Retrospect? - Alumni Studies
31. How do Teachers and Pupils View the Waldorf School? - Attitude Studies
32. Class Teacher-Pupil Relationships at Waldorf Schools - A Current Research Contribution

Epilogue

Bibliography
Glossary
Index