Waldorf News

How to Restore Diversity and Inclusivity to the Waldorf Curriculum

“After over ninety years of Waldorf education, we need to examine the way it has developed in order not to damage it, but rather to renew it and reinvigorate ourselves. I have formed the conviction through the years that the source, or spring, or renewal lies in the original indications and intentions of Rudolf Steiner. If this spring begins to bubble up in us, we will become viable for the future.”
—Christof Wiechert, former head of the Pedagogical Section of the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum

By Jennifer Militzer-Kopperl, Renewal of Literacy

There is no need to add diversity and inclusivity to the Waldorf curriculum—they just need to be restored.

Diversity and inclusivity have been there all along in Steiner’s original storytelling curriculum. Over the last 100 years, they have been obscured by the parallel Waldorf curriculum, or the traditions that have grown up over the last 100 years.

Teachers interested in creating a more diverse and inclusive curriculum are invited to consider Rudolf Steiner’s original storytelling indications. Not only would the original storytelling curriculum restore diversity and inclusivity, but it would also enable teachers to work with economy in teaching. This article shows how.

Introducing Steiner’s Original Storytelling Indications

Steiner gave indications for stories to be told in grades 1–8. Those indications are shown in table 1.

Table 1: Steiner’s Storytelling Curriculum Indications for Grades 1–8

• Grade & Topic
• 1   Fairy tales
• 2   Stories from the animal realm in fables
• 3   Bible stories as part of general history (Old Testament)
• 4   Scenes from ancient history
• 5   Scenes from medieval history
• 6   Scenes from modern history
• 7   Stories illustrating tribal life (stories of the various races and tribes)
• 8   Knowledge of nations (races)

Source: Stockmeyer (2001, 17), which originally comes from Steiner (1997, 23–24).

Note that Steiner’s indications naturally fall into three groups, which are shaded above:

• Grades 1-2: Ahistorical Stories
• Grades 3-6: Historical Stories
• Grades 7-8: Stories/Knowledge from Other Peoples

Stories in Grades 1-2: Untapped Potential for Inclusivity and Diversity

In grades 1-2, the stories are ahistorical. They are fairy tales and animal stories/fables. Nowhere is it specified that these stories be European. Teachers interested in bringing inclusivity and diversity are invited to explore the fairy tales and animal stories/fables from around the world.

One place to start is considering the stories of local native animals from local native peoples and then expanding outward from there. In this way, Waldorf teachers can bring as much diversity and inclusivity as they desire in the storytelling curriculum for grades 1–2. They can also plant seeds for the zoology block (i.e., Human Being and Animal Block) in fourth grade.

Stories in Grades 3-6: Historical Stories and Economy in Teaching

In grades 3–6, the stories are historical. Opportunities for inclusivity and diversity are curtailed in favor of providing opportunities for economy in teaching (soul economy).

Economy in teaching is providing the maximum of amount of information in the simplest way and using the least amount of time.

The third-grade storytelling curriculum (i.e., Old Testament) is the transition from story to history. In grades 4–6, the stories are firmly rooted in human history. Waldorf teachers are to tell stories that foreshadow the history curriculum of the upcoming grade.

For example, in grade 4, teachers could tell scenes from ancient history (e.g., the Battle of Marathon), and in grade 5, teachers could present ancient history in history blocks (e.g., introducing the Greco-Persian Wars through scenes told in fourth grade such as the Battle of Marathon).

Steiner built economy in teaching into the Waldorf storytelling curriculum and history curriculum (a topic I develop in my book Continuing the Journey to Literacy); however, the possibilities for inclusivity and diversity are curtailed.

Stories in Grades 7–8: Stories/Knowledge of Other Peoples

By way of balance, Steiner’s storytelling curriculum for grades 7–8 mandates diversity and inclusivity.

In grades 7–8, the storytelling curriculum shifts to stories from other cultures and other peoples. Waldorf teachers are to tell stories of tribes (e.g., Indigenous peoples such as the Lakota) and knowledge from nations (e.g., China).

These are the years to bring diversity and inclusivity through the storytelling curriculum. It helps balance out the Western bias inherent in the Waldorf history curriculum—and it prepares students to study world history in high school and beyond.

Note: As a bonus, teachers who follow Steiner’s original storytelling indications can use economy in teaching to bring geography of the world through the stories of the world’s peoples. I introduce this topic in my book Continuing the Journey to Literacy. 

The Parallel Storytelling Curriculum

If Waldorf teachers were following Steiner’s storytelling indications, the Waldorf curriculum would naturally be diverse and inclusive; however, it is not.

The reason is simple: there is a parallel storytelling curriculum, a topic I am developing in my current book The Roadmap to Literacy: Renewal of Literacy Edition (due out later in 2022).

The parallel storytelling curriculum was created by the teachers of the first Waldorf school, recorded by Caroline von Heydebrand in The Curriculum of the First Waldorf School, and adapted for English by Eileen Hutchins when the Waldorf curriculum was initially brought to England.

The parallel storytelling curriculum is the dominant Waldorf storytelling curriculum. It is the one taught in teacher training and used in Waldorf classrooms. The first four grades are recorded in table 2 and changes to Steiner’s original indications are highlighted in yellow.

Table 2: Parallel Storytelling Curriculum for Grades 1–4

• Grade & Parallel Storytelling Curriculum
• 1   Fairy tales and folk tales  from around the world
• 2   Fables and legends;  Saint stories;  Animal stories
• 3   Old Testament stories (i.e., Creation through  Moses)
• 4   Norse mythology

Source: Adapted from the original edition of my first book, The Roadmap to Literacy (Langley and Militzer-Kopperl 2018 and 2021, 460).

The first Waldorf teachers had a herculean task: to design and deliver a Waldorf curriculum based on Steiner’s indications, which were delivered in lecture format in a two-and-a-half week intensive training right before the school year began.

These teachers can be forgiven for not following the letter of the indications for the storytelling curriculum—they received a lot of new material in a short span of time and had to create a working Waldorf curriculum from scratch.

However, they left us with a difficult legacy: the parallel storytelling curriculum.

The first Waldorf faculty switched the storytelling indication in fourth grade from scenes from ancient history to German mythology, and Caroline von Heydebrand recorded it the highly influential book The Curriculum of the First Waldorf School.

Eileen Hutchins deliberately adapted those storytelling indications from German to English when she translated The Curriculum of the First Waldorf School. It was she who switched German mythology in fourth grade to Norse mythology.

Likewise, it was she who suggested that second grade include legends about the human being striving towards completion. (If you look at Heydebrand’s original German, it is limited to Steiner’s indication—animal stories.)

The storytelling indications of Caroline von Heydebrand and Eileen Hutchins have become so prominent that teachers are not aware that Steiner recommended something quite different—or that they have a choice.

What to Do with the Stories from the Parallel Curriculum?

What can be done with the stories from the parallel curriculum? Is it necessary (or desirable) to throw the baby out with the bathwater?

An understanding of child development coupled with an understanding of Steiner’s Waldorf curriculum shows where stories from the parallel curriculum could logically be scheduled. For example, let’s consider those stories of the human being and his/her striving for completion that Eileen Hutchins added to the second-grade curriculum. One example that teachers are using is stories about Martin Luther King Jr.

The striving for completion shows up in the study of human history (i.e., the scenes from history in the storytelling curriculum for grades 4–6). From these stories, students pick their heroes and get a foretaste of the upcoming history curriculum for the subsequent grades (i.e., 5-8).

Therefore, a logical place to tell stories about Martin Luther King Jr. would be the sixth-grade storytelling curriculum as part of scenes from modern history. The stories could inspire the students and then serve as a transition to the study of the civil rights movement in eighth grade history.

Teachers who consider the Waldorf curriculum in light of child development can easily draw their own conclusions about creative ways to schedule stories from the parallel curriculum.

Note: Please do not let anyone tell you the Waldorf curriculum does not exist or is unknowable. It does exist. I compiled the aspects that pertain to main lesson in grades 1-8 in the book Continuing the Journey to Literacy, and I summarized Steiner’s views on child development. The tools are there.

Conclusion

Diversity and inclusivity have always been part of the Steiner-Waldorf curriculum, waiting for the movement to realize them. That time is now.

Teachers are aware of the need to teach a curriculum that is diverse and inclusive. They need look no further than the indications of the founder of the Waldorf movement. Inclusivity and diversity have been there all along, in Steiner’s original storytelling curriculum.

They also provide numerous opportunities for economy in teaching. Wiechert is right: “The source, or spring, or renewal lies in the original indications and intentions of Rudolf Steiner.” The renewal of literacy books show how.

If you enjoyed this article, check out my book Continuing the Journey to Literacy (Militzer-Kopperl 2020) and my upcoming book The Roadmap to Literacy: Renewal of Literacy Edition (Militzer-Kopperl, to be released later in 2022). Continuing the Journey to Literacy contains an entire chapter on the storytelling curriculum, and the upcoming new edition of The Roadmap to Literacy (i.e., The Roadmap to Literacy: Renewal of Literacy Edition) will too. Continuing the Journey to Literacy also introduces ways to use economy in teaching in the storytelling curriculum—and across the Waldorf curriculum. Join me in renewing literacy for the twenty-first century by becoming more familiar with the original indications and intentions of Rudolf Steiner, as Christof Wiechert invites us all to do.

Bibliography

Langley, Janet. Jennifer Militzer-Kopperl. 2018. The Roadmap to Literacy: A Guide to Teaching Language Arts in Waldorf Schools Grades 1 through 3. Maitland, Florida: Mill City Press.

Steiner, Rudolf. 1997. Discussions with Teachers: Fifteen Discussions with the Teachers of the Stuttgart Waldorf School August 21–September 6, 1919; Three Lectures on the Curriculum September 6, 1919. Discussions translated by Helen Fox. Lectures on the curriculum translated by Katherine E. Creeger. Hudson New York: Anthroposophic Press.

Stockmeyer, Karl. 2001. Rudolf Steiner’s Curriculum for Waldorf Schools. Translated by Roland Everett- Zade. East Sussex: Steiner Schools Fellowship Publications.

Wiechert, Christof. 2011. “Rethinking the Threefold Division of the Main Lesson: Christof Wiechert. Translated by John Weedon and adapted, condensed, and introduced by Ronald Koetzsch. Waldorf Today. https://www.waldorftoday.com/2011/01/rethinking-the-threefold-division-of-the-main-lesson-christof-weichert/

Jennifer Militzer-Kopperl is the co-author of The Roadmap to Literacy: A Guide to Teaching Language Arts in Waldorf Schools Grades 1 through 3 (Langley and Militzer-Kopperl 2018/2021) and the author of the sequel Continuing the Journey to Literacy: A Guide to Teaching Language Arts in Waldorf Schools Grades 4 through 8 (2020). These books comprise a complete language arts program for Waldorf schools grades 1-8 called Renewal of Literacy: https://renewalofliteracy.com. The Roadmap to Literacy: Renewal of Literacy Edition is Militzer-Kopperl’s latest project. It is due out later in 2022.