Ruhi Tyson
NORENSE funding: 20.000 SEK in 2019

Description
Article: Vocational education in Waldorf-contexts – extending our understanding of practical Bildung Within the German-speaking Steiner-education movement there has been significant developments after WWII where vocational education has been integrated into upper secondary school. The most well-known of these is the Hibernia school (founded by Klaus Fintelmann) which grew out of the apprenticeship-training at the Hibernia chemistry works in the 1950s. Other early developments were made at the Waldorf schools in Kassel, Nürnberg and Gröbenzell. The past 20 years have seen further development. Erhard Fucke and Michael Brater (together with associates) have also been responsible for extensive theoretical and empirical writing on the topic (Brater & Büchele 1985; Brater et al. 2011, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985; Brater & Wagner 2011; Fucke 1996, 1981, 1977, 1976). However, apart from a Unesco study of the Hibernia school (Rist & Schneider 1979), none of this, as well as other writing, is available in English even though, at least quantitatively, this seems to be the most significant development and change of the original Steiner curriculum that has occurred in Germany and Switzerland.

One significant reason for this is most likely the large differences between vocational education systems internationally where the German context differs widely from the British, US and Nordic countries (encompassing a distinct portion of the non-German Steiner schools). These differences mean that any review of theory and practice in the field needs to take into account the international relevance of its point of view unless the aim is mainly descriptive and historical. The focus will therefore be on those aspects that have relevance outside of the German vocational system together with a brief introduction to the differences in vocational education and training (VET) in Britain, the US and the Nordic countries.
Following this introduction, brief outlines of the various initiatives will be given, including the above-mentioned and several others.
Thereafter a review of the theoretical literature as well as empirical research relating to VET and Steiner education will make out the main portion of the article. It will cover Fucke’s writing on practical Bildung as well as Fintelmann’s (1992, 1990, 1985), Brater’s and others’ divided into a theory and an empirical research section.
Finally the article will conclude with a discussion on the relevance of these developments for the international Steiner school movement and for researchers engaging in studies of the Steiner curriculum (or curricula which is perhaps a more accurate characterization).

The article has been published in RoSE and can be downloaded here.