Reflection on Steiner-Waldorf’s Philosophy of Education

The primary goal of education in 19th-century was to acquire knowledge. But Steiner-Waldorf rejected this principle and stated that knowledge is only one of the tools by which one teaches, so one of the forms of mental and moral development for the upbringing of a child's entire domain is to pay attention to the child's intellectual, emotional and voluntary dimensions. With this interpretation, the present study was conducted with the aim of analyzing and reflecting on the philosophy of Steiner-Waldorf education using qualitative method of content analysis. The study community was library documents, research reports and searches on global Internet networks. The findings indicate that the purpose of Waldorf's philosophy of education is to create balance between different aspects of the soul (thinking, feelings and desires) and the body, and therefore emphasizes on creative constructive games, story, rhythm, movement and music. Waldorf considers the nature of human beings to be based on the humanity and development of the child's spirituality and refers to three stages of growth of the head, heart and hands. The head’s approach to cognitive learning, the heart's approach to conflict and emotional learning, and the hand’s approach to practical activity emphasize that manual skill and physical strength are combined with common sense and willpower in productive action. Consequently, with regard to emphasizes the element of spirituality and morality, there can be no moral progress, both personally and socially, regardless of spirituality and morality.