An ethnographic study of ‘Steiner Fever’ in China: Why are Chinese parents turning away from mainstream education and to Steiner education?

• In Event: Dissertation workshop session
  In Special Session: Critical Race Theory and Feminist Perspectives

Proposal

An ethnographic study of ‘Steiner Fever’ in China: Why are Chinese parents turning away from mainstream education and to Steiner education?

University of Cambridge
Dissertation faculty advisor: Ruth Kershner

The doctoral research intends to explore the Steiner (Waldorf) education movement in China by investigating parental choice of school, perceptions of parents and teachers as well as the practice of Steiner education in China. I am currently beginning writing up my dissertation, and aim to submit the dissection in July 2019.

In the past decade, China has seen a major expansion of alternative education, an aspect of which is the ‘Steiner Fever’, which refers to the rapid growth of Steiner education. China’s education system stresses early and intense academics, regimentation, competition and standardised testing. In recent years, however, the Chinese parents have been seeking alternatives outside of the mainstream education system, and there has been a major expansion of alternative education (e.g. Steiner and Montessori models), as well as homeschooling. In the past 13 years in China, it is estimated that there are 40 new schools and 500 new kindergartens that draw on Steiner’s pedagogical methods, to promote the development of the whole child (Nylander, 2014).

Steiner Education is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, with the aim of inspiring children to develop into confident, creative, comprehensive thinkers with a strong sense of social responsibility (Paull, 2011). The first Steiner school was founded in 1919 in Stuttgart, Germany.

There is a lack of scholarship in the research on alternative education in China in general, and Steiner education in particular. Among the limited research on Steiner education in China, most studies are conceptually based. Therefore, using a transdisciplinary approach, this study empirically explores and investigates parents’ perceptions and decisions to choose Steiner schools as well as the practice in the schools, in the light of the social, cultural, historical contexts, drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s (1992) ecological systems framework. In the current study I am exploring three questions: 1) Why do parents choose Steiner kindergartens and schools rather than mainstream education or other forms of alternative education? 2) How is Steiner education perceived by parents and teachers who are involved in Steiner education in China? 3) How is Steiner education practised in Steiner kindergartens and schools in China?

The present research employs a two-sited ethnographic design. I spent four months each at two Steiner schools in 2017. The study’s primary data generation methods have included interviews with parents and school staff, observations, informal conversations, field-notes and secondary data analysis including policy documents and school newsletters. Thematic analysis is used for data analysis (Braun, V., & Clarke, V, 2016). Some findings show that there is a Chinese mothers’ grass-root movement in finding good education for their children. I am considering using some feminist theories to help explain the data.

This project could be an important piece of research for how we understand parental choice for their children’s education in China. It also contributes to the under-researched field of alternative education in China, by providing insights into non-hegemonic, non- mainstream, alternative forms of education that might be used to challenge the normative form of education in the Chinese society, and the reasons parents and educators choose alternative education. The resulting knowledge should has potential to inform education policy and practice in China as well as making an original contribution to theoretical understanding of parental choice of alternative education.

Author

• Yifan Sun, University of Cambridge