ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part analyzes the art of teaching and pedagogy, specifically within the context of Waldorf education. It examines the performative character of main lesson teaching in Waldorf education as a transformative educational process in the sense of Koller's positionality. The part then describes Steiner's specific definition of the Waldorf curriculum with regard to the self-image, genesis, challenges, and perspectives of Waldorf schools, which differs both from curricular teaching programs and from competence-oriented educational programs. It concludes that the possibilities Waldorf teaching offer for competence development, in high school above all, reveal ways for skills and abilities to be dialogically confirmed and evaluated; for personality to not only be included in but also to be seen as a prerequisite to the teaching situation; and for the attempt to elicit intrinsic motivation through competently guided processes of world exploration.
