Background and motivation

The aim of the project is to bring forward research-based knowledge about everyday practice in Waldorf Primary Education. Research on the Norwegian Waldorf Education Programme (WEP) is scarce, and Waldorf perspectives on education are thus challenging to legitimise within general academic discourses. The project will offer an academic contribution to Waldorf Teacher Education and General Teacher Education, policymakers and the public. It will open for critical discussions of established pedagogical practices– illuminating their uniqueness, potential, and areas in need of renewal

Research questions

The main question guiding the project is:

What characterises the pedagogy of Waldorf Primary Education, and is it educationally desirable and sustainable considering current knowledge and research?

To disclose and provide answers to this question, several research questions will be explored, such as:

• How did Norwegian Waldorf Education respond to and negotiate initiatives in Reform 97concerning the entrance of five- and six-year-old children into public and private school programmes, and on what grounds and justification?
• How does Waldorf Education’s philosophical and historical legacy communicate with new research in education and pedagogy?
• If the everyday practice in Norwegian ECE institutions is affected by quality assurance practices and policy initiatives in early primary education, what lessons may be learned from the ECE pedagogy in Waldorf Education for five- and six-year-old pupils?
• pedagogy in Waldorf Education for five- and six-year-old pupils
• What characterises the different forms of transitions between ECE institutions and Waldorf schools, and how are these experienced?
• How may space and materiality serve as pedagogical resources in Waldorf Education for five and six-year-old pupils?
• How is children’s play preserved and given space to unfold in Waldorf Education’s first-grade classrooms, and how do teachers experience using play as a pedagogical resource in everyday practice?

Sources, methods, and theoretical perspectives

The project will draw on different methodological approaches but place itself within an interpretive and hermeneutic-phenomenological framework and tradition. The methodological approaches may include qualitative interviews, observations, fieldwork, questionnaires, and document- and historical analysis. Theoretical perspectives will be selected based on methods used, topic, and themes from the empirical material. Theories from different fields of research are assumed to be of relevance in this respect, such as narrative and discourse and research on body and materiality in pedagogical settings.

Intended forms of publication

The results will be published as articles, preferably in open-source journals. A master’s thesis and a postdoctorate project will be included in the research dissemination. Publications will be used as curriculum articles in the Waldorf Teacher Education programmes and courses in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. The results will also be published in RoSE and Nordic Waldorf education magazines. Three research seminars are planned during the middle and final stages of the project period and at the yearly NORENSE seminar.

The project is a collaboration between the Rudolf Steiner University College and the University of Agder.