Waldorf Education - Reception

Reception

A number of educationalists have commented positively on Waldorf education:

• Robert Peterkin, Director of the Urban Superintendents Program at Harvard's Graduate School of Education and former Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools during a period when Milwaukee funded a public Waldorf school, considers Waldorf education a healing education whose underlying principles are appropriate for educating all children.
• Thomas W. Nielsen of the University of Canberra's Education Department, who wrote his dissertation on "Rudolf Steiner’s pedagogy of imagination", considers the imaginative teaching approaches used in Waldorf education (drama, exploration, storytelling, routine, arts, discussion and empathy) to be effective stimulators of spiritual-aesthetic, intellectual and physical development and recommends these to mainstream educators.
• Deborah Meier, principal of Mission Hill School and MacArthur grant recipient, whilst having some "quibbles" about the Waldorf schools, stated: "The adults I know who have come out of Waldorf schools are extraordinary people. That education leaves a strong mark of thoroughness, carefulness, and thoughtfulness."

Some Waldorf methods have also been adopted by teachers in both public/state and other private schools. One researcher studying an urban Waldorf school in Milwaukee criticized the lack of wider efforts to implement Waldorf methods in public education.

Concerns have been raised in Victoria, Australia about the performance of Waldorf schools and efforts have been made to try to strengthen the regulatory framework around them.