Anne-Mette Stabel
This PhD project was defended in public the 31.of January 2014 at The University of Oslo. The project has been funded both by RSUC and by NORENSE. In 2010, NORENSE supported the project with 224.000 NOK and in 2011 NORENSE with 240.000 NOK. 

The study was undertaken at The Department of Educational Research at the Faculty of Education, University of Oslo. During the work, she was also working part time at Rudolf Steiner University College in Oslo (RSUC). Background
There is no previous study of how The Steiner School has developed within the framework of the Norwegian educational history, and knowledge about the Steiner school activities is seldom part of the Norwegian education science.  

Research Question
How has the Norwegian Steiner School, within changing educational historical conditions, evolved from an alternative educational idea to a publicly accredited school offering a 13-year curriculum and how have visions and pedagogical justifications contributed to this development?

Sources, theoretical perspectives and methods
The survey was based on a wide range of sources. Plans and curricula for the Norwegian Steiner schools and a selection of articles published in the Norwegian Steiner School Journals have been the most important sources. Hermeneutic perspectives and analytical narration are used as methodological approaches in addition to periodization the period from 1926 to 2004. Didactics and historical perspectives on education are the theoretical perspectives in the thesis. Findings
In the thesis, an historical theory of the development of the Norwegian Steiner School is presented. The investigation has shown that there is a high degree of continuity in the visions of The Steiner School, e.g. visions concerning how the students can develop into free and independent individuals. The thesis also shows that the inner and sacred part of all individuals has been considered important. The progression in the curricula and the tradition of teaching has therefore been guided by these ideas. There has also been a continuity in the vision that there should be freedom for schools and teachers, and a strong emphasis has been put on the importance of a wide range of methodological approaches in teaching. Teaching is looked upon as art, and the teacher’s inner work has been given attention. 

The investigation has shown that legal provisions, laws and reforms, have increasingly covered The Steiner School and it appears from the survey that The Steiner School has adapted to the changing education conditions and also tried to change them. The investigation has shown that The Steiner School partly has been ahead of reforms in the Norwegian school, and in part, the school has had to accept and adapt to the reforms. The Steiner School slowly became a player in the efforts to improve the school’s financial terms, but that The Steiner School barely has been used in the work of reform in the public schools. 

When the law on state subsidies to private schools was established in 1970, the premises were that the Curriculum of The Steiner School had to be approved, which meant that the legitimacy of the school was a legal matter. Previously the school had legitimized their activities through informal programs, small and fragmented curricula and articles in which visions for schoolwork and qualitative aspects of each grade were described.

The investigation has shown that it is necessary to question how legal terms for alternative schools must be designed for the teaching freedom to be real, a question that affects all schools. The study raises therefore questions, not only valid for private alternative schools, but schools and education more generally.Publications

Stabel, Anne-Mette. (2014). Visjoner og vilkår: Om steinerskolens utvikling i Norge fra 1926-2004. (PhD), Universitetet i Oslo, Oslo. Link summary in Norwegian. 

Stabel, Anne-Mette. (2016). Hva skal vi med skole? Steinerskolens historie i Norge 1926 – 2016. Oslo: Pax. Link to book