Waldorf Education - Pedagogy and Theory of Child Development

Pedagogy and Theory of Child Development

The structure of the education follows Steiner's theories of child development, which describe three major developmental stages of childhood, each having its own learning requirements, as well as a number of sub-stages. These stages are broadly similar to those described by Piaget.

• In early childhood learning is largely experiential, imitative and sensory-based. The education emphasizes learning through practical activities.
• During the elementary school years (age 7–14), learning is artistic and imaginative, and is guided and stimulated by the creative authority of teachers. In these years, the approach emphasizes developing children's emotional life and artistic expression across a wide variety of performing and visual arts.
• During adolescence (age 14-19), the emphasis is on developing intellectual understanding and ethical ideals such as social responsibility to meet the developing capacity for abstract thought and conceptual judgment

Waldorf education realizes an unusually and perhaps uniquely "complete articulation of an evolutionary developmental K-12 curriculum and creative teaching methodology." its underlying principles continue a pedagogical tradition initiated by Comenius, Pestalozzi, and Herder Its methodology encourages collaborative learning.