Using Artistic, Phenomenological, and Hermeneutic Reflective Practices in Waldorf (Steiner) Teacher Education

Abstract

This study explores ways in which the transition from theoretical learning in a higher education setting (seminar) can be transformed, using reflection as part of learning-in-practice, once the teacher learners take up the second part of their teacher education programme in schools. The study was conducted in a post-graduate Waldorf teacher education institution in Germany. It takes the form of an illuminative case study and illustrates the reflective practices, using examples from teacher-learners’ journals, reflections on case clinic, and autoethnographic studies written up as Master theses. The study explores the need to take pathic, embodied experiences into account, using artistic methods of reflection as well as a phenomenological and hermeneutic approach to developing understandings of practice. These methods of reflection are scaffolded. The study concludes that this integrated approach combines a participatory epistemology with a more practical and focused approach using observation schedules. It offers a method that is by no means specific to Steiner/Waldorf education but can be applied in any comparable teacher education structure.