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NOTE: What you are about to read is the author’s summary of Steiner’s work in the field of curative education. For further reading I would recommend Theosophy by Steiner (1904) and Curative Education by Steiner (1977).

Background, a prewar, Western perspective
The first Waldorf school was founded in Germany, after the first world war. Society was changing from a monarchy to a republic. Steiner was asked to help instill values from the French revolution (liberté égalité fraternité) in society through education. He advocated for schools to make child development, rather than content memorization, the base of the curriculum and didactics. He founded schools catering to curative education according to those same philosophies and principles.

In 1924 the first curative education institution was to be named Home for Pathological and Epileptic Children. Steiner did not like this name as he did not want it to stigmatize the children. This was a radical choice, given the time, attitudes and prevalence of derogatory names. Steiner generally uses vocabulary of his time, but this example shows that he was aware of the impact of language, something that is still not optimal 100 years later (Edlund 2005).

Theosophy
A short explanation of Steiner’s view of human nature will help us to understand the rest of his philosophy. Steiner believed that human nature consists of an interplay of the physical-, the ether-, astral body, the ego or self and the spirit.

The Ether is life force, what humans and plants have in common. A visual that may be helpful is to imagine a seed of a bean. Adding a bit of water can result in an almost explosive emergence of life. This is because of the ether potential in the seed waiting for activation. The equation would be: water + bean + ether, to help life start. Air and light are also required, but not necessary to activate the life in the seed.

The Astral Body is what humans have in common with animals; sentience and consciousness. It is where feelings are experienced. The ego or self is an anchor that gives direction and makes one self-aware. The spirit is where insights and higher reasoning derive.

Steiner believed that humans experience life in three dimensions or ‘worlds’: the physical world that is perceived by the senses, the world of oneself or of the soul, and the spirit world (Steiner, 1904).

The physical world consists of perception through the senses. Through the body, one is capable of connecting to the environment. The body is built of materials of the outside world and the forces of the world work on and in the body. The physical opens a world similarly accessible to all.

The soul connects things to the existence of the observer through judgement and emotions. Impressions and emotions are saved in the soul and others do not have access to this world.

The spirit consists of finding the core, or being of things, through objective observation. Through the spirit an individual steps outside itself and lets the world speak for itself by observing what it is.

Curative Education

Central to Steiner’s view of special education is looking at every child individually and seeing the whole child. Steiner looked for ways for a child to reach their full potential, rather than ways to fit a child into a mold that suits society.

He considered someone with a (dis)ability as someone whose spirit is whole, but the interplay between bodies (astral, ether, self, spirit) does not allow communication in typical or harmonious ways. All human beings experience some form of ‘irregularity’, which can be something as small as stutter or being nearsighted. He believed that children with special needs simply had more extreme irregularities and that the only way to help someone with a (dis)ability was to determine the cause of the ‘irregularity’ or the root of the problem. He viewed health, not as a permanent state but as a balance that needs to be looked at from the whole of an individual and can be adjusted through dialogue.

Steiner acknowledged that the only way to identify (dis)abilities or irregularities was to measure children against a ‘norm’ and that by eliminating the ‘irregularity’, we might inadvertently eliminate a bit of genius. He cautioned observers and educators to be aware of and alert to bias (1977).

PERSPECTIVES IN PRACTICE

Read the following poem by Jody Barnes and think about some of the feelings the poem evokes.

What  similarities and differences can you identify between the image of ‘disability’ in the poem and Steiner’s views on ‘irregularities’.

In the time when Steiner was writing, biological determinism was a common way of thinking. Many experts believed that most human characteristics, including those relating to cognition,  affect, and physical abilities,  were determined at or before birth. Steiner warned of the ethical and social dangers of this mindset, especially regarding their impact on children with special needs. In Germany in 1934 the Nazis passed a sterilization law . Many at the time believed that this law would stop the spread of genetically inherited conditions and make society as a whole, healthier.

Steiner (1977) stated: Helping a child develop, is to develop yourself. According to him it is a law of pedagogy, one models behavior that stimulates the body that is only just developing in the child. When children are developing their physical body till the age of six, behavior from the ether body is modeled. In the following phase children are able to apply the ether to school and are only just starting to develop the astral body. As mentioned above the astral body is what makes an individual sentient. One of the ways to model it as an adult is to demonstrate care, whether it applies to children themselves or just the presentation of the chalkboard.

For students with special needs a good understanding of child development is required. Modeling behavior that is one step or level above what students exhibit is fundamentally important in curative education, similar to Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development.

Steiner (1977) believed that eduation should be interdisciplinary and holistic and not just focused on memorization. He cautioned educators that sometimes parents want to push their children too fast, and that it’s their duty to protect a child’s boundaries and pace.

Observation

One of the skills required of Waldorf teachers is objective observation and to that end, students of the Vrijeschool Pabo (Waldorf teacher education school) practice this skill during their teaching practice. They observe one or two students over the course of a few weeks. The objective is to avoid any and all possible inferences and bias in language. If a student gives the impression they are nervous, it is allowed to note that the child fidgets, but not to note that they are nervous, as that is an interpretation and not a statement of fact. Saying that a student is young for their age is also an interpretation. This is undesirable, as mentioned above. Part of the Waldorf philosophy involves being as specific as possible in order to help each student individually. Pre-judgements and interpretations prevent us from doing that effectively (Hogeschool Leiden, 2017).

How to build an objective impression of a child, with example observations:

• Physical description
• Chapped upper lip
• Blue sneakers
• Description of movement
• The child cannot jump rope yet, but is able to jump over the rope when it wriggles on the ground (a game the children call jumping over the snake
• The child sucks on his collar and zipper, keep a tally for different situations
• Description of social interaction
• Initiates demonstrations of his running abilities more than other children in his class
• Execution of assignments given by adults
• Switches activities immediately to the one requested by the teacher when asked