Democratizing Waldorf: Adapting Waldorf Education for a Public Charter Setting

• In Event: The Place of Holistic Education in Schooling

Abstract

This qualitative study utilizes interviewing, observation and document review to investigate the ways one Waldorf-inspired school responds to the social and political contexts of its pubic charter setting. Traditionally, Waldorf education has been offered in non-public school settings. However, in recent years there has been a growth in Waldorf-inspired public charter schools, serving a much more diverse urban student body. This paper aims to shed light on the democratization of Waldorf education. It does so by documenting the adaptations that occur in the holistic, traditionally non-public Waldorf approach when facing the internal and external accountability systems of a public charter setting.

Author

• Mary-Louise Leger, University of California - Los Angeles