ABSTRACT
Waldorf education is discussed in very different and controversial ways in university-based German educational science. Roughly simplified, three different positions and approaches can be presented: 1. The reform pedagogical-pragmatic position emphasises the multifaceted practice of a development-oriented and holistic education and the close teacher-pupil relationship at Waldorf schools but neglects its foundation in Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy. 2. The ideology-critical position subjects Rudolf Steiner’s occult “neo-mythology” in particular to sharp criticism and warns of the danger of indoctrination arising from it in the Waldorf school as a “worldview school”. In the process, critics often lose sight of the unusual and creative forms of practice in Waldorf schools. 3. Empirical educational research is particularly interested in the school experiences and learning outcomes of Waldorf students, the pedagogical orientations and professional biographies of teachers and the sociocultural milieu of the parent body at this exclusive alternative school.
At the few anthroposophically oriented private universities in Germany, one still finds an orthodox position in the field of educational science, which is determined by the conviction that all norms and forms of Waldorf education can be traced back to Rudolf Steiner’s world of thought, which must always be updated anew.
