Far from the Ideal of the Workers' School

Piwecki is the managing director of the Free Intercultural Waldorf School Mannheim and has also been a member of the board of the Bund der Freien Waldorfschulen (BdFWS, German Association of Independent Waldorf Schools) since November 2023. Adam has written a research paper on the topic of «Educational advancement at Waldorf schools». She was part of the founding team of the Intercultural School and is a lecturer at the Freie Fachschule für Sozialpädagogik Mannheim. She believes that a «barrier-free admission procedure» in the sense of a welcoming culture is necessary, as well as an all-day concept and possibly also quotas.

Erziehungskunst | The proportion of students with a migration background at the Intercultural Waldorf School Mannheim is around 50 percent. The children and young people come from 40 nations. In these respects, the school differs significantly from other Waldorf schools. Are there any other special characteristics of the now three intercultural Waldorf schools in Germany?

Susanne Piwecki | We have no rules about what an intercultural Waldorf school is, there are also local differences, but it can certainly be said that their goal is to enable social and cultural integration. To this end, there are special lessons on offer here in Mannheim, for example, special German language support, language lessons in one's own mother tongue in the first and second grade, in which all students participate, and cultural lessons in grades three to five, in which students learn about Muslim, Jewish and Christian cultures together. In addition, we were an all-day school from the very beginning because it quickly became clear that it was not enough to support these students if they were only in school from eight o'clock to twelve o'clock.

Christiane Adam | It's all about experiences for which there simply isn't enough time in the classroom - gardening, culture, projects as a fixed program, this creative, artistic and social element. This provides an educational environment that is not available at home.

EK | What about fees for the parents? Some people probably have difficulty paying them.

SP | The city of Mannheim supports us with funding for language support, and this funding compensates for part of the parental contributions. In addition, the 80 to 90 euro tuition fee is an average, which means that there are also better-off parents who pay more.

EK | The number of students in your school in Mannheim is stable – how do you attract parents, how do they find their way to school?

SP | By now it's a bit of a self-propelled success, we are well-known in Mannheim. During the admission interviews, we also hear from 80 percent of parents that they came to us through personal contacts. You don't tend to reach these families with the normal kind of public relations work that we usually do.

CA | You have to actively seek out a different student body. Back when the school was founded, we established all the contacts – with clubs, the migration advisory board and all the daycare centers. These parents don't come by themselves, you have to realize that.

SP | After all, there are 40 daycare centers that we stay in contact with. It is also important that the intercultural school is easily accessible by foot; we need good public transport connections as we are a district school. We also need a barrier-free admission procedure. By that I mean a welcoming culture. If you have to attend up to ten parents' evenings for your child to be accepted, as is quite common, it doesn't work for these parents.

EK | If we now assume that these atypical Waldorf parents have found the school and overcome these hurdles, what can the children expect at the Waldorf school? You, Ms. Adam, have carried out your own research on this and also included other Waldorf schools. What does the Waldorf school offer disadvantaged children, what did you find out about it?

CA | The decisive factor is the de-standardization and deceleration, that these students are simply given more time. You can see that in my case study: None of the disadvantaged children were good in middle school, that only came later and in the end they all had diplomas. Even during puberty, there wasn't as much pressure to compete and perform. This creates a bond with school and we know from other research that this is crucial for success. The middle school without this strong focus on performance creates a positive emotional connection to school – if things go well – and this also results in a positive focus on education.

EK | However, experience has shown that parents from immigrant backgrounds are already achievement- and advancement-oriented. Won't they become insecure if they are not constantly challenged?

SP | We know that from German parents too, that they think their child is not learning enough at the Waldorf school. It's a question of trust, which has to be built up by the school. From my observations, the parents already realize what is good for the children, that crafts and art are also useful and that the children come home happy because they have achieved something.

CA | In terms of practical subjects, there is already work to be done to raise awareness, for example with the question «What use is it if the children knit?» Practical subjects such as gardening or handicrafts in particular can contribute a lot to building better self-confidence, which suffers among lower secondary school students because this entire school level is so devalued in public. At Waldorf schools, the practical learning opportunities have their own value, which benefits many students. The artistic subjects also work in a similar direction.

EK | In your research, you also have two case studies in which the students were at risk of not graduating at all – due to school refusal or delinquency, violence and drugs. But they did succeed at the Waldorf school too. What was the decisive factor here?

CA | The crucial factor was the class community and the fact that the teachers took care of them, that they felt valued and that they belonged. This creates a space of protection and recognition that can act as a substitute for family, for example, even in difficult family relationships, which I also had in my cases. The class community also had a healing effect in a case where the student had previously been bullied.

EK | But can't it also be difficult to get into a Waldorf class that has been together for a long time?

CA | Good, healthy cooperation in a classroom must be shaped. Whether this succeeds has a lot to do with the work of the class teachers.

EK | In your study, you also identified risks for children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds at Waldorf schools. What are these risks?

CA | All opportunities also have their downsides. In middle school, for example, students may make unrealistic self-assessments and end up not graduating after all. These parents are not able to cope with this so well for another school year. In addition, Waldorf schools are much more dependent on relationships. If things don't go so well, there is a risk of falling out of these important social relationships.

SP | Counseling also plays a major role when it comes to graduation. It shouldn't happen that someone doesn't end up with a diploma, as the school will refer them to the appropriate qualification. The teachers make sure that everyone has a secondary school certificate first.

EK | But there are no statistics comparing the results of intercultural Waldorf schools with state schools, are there?

SP | That's difficult because we don't offer the Abitur and the students who want to do it transfer to other schools.

EK | In the list from Mannheim, however, I was very impressed by the student who came with a special education classification and ended up doing the Fachabitur. Even if this is perhaps an isolated case, it speaks for itself. Shouldn't more Waldorf schools embark on this path towards more social and cultural integration?

SP | In my view, the first step should be to admit that we have moved a long way away from the ideal of the first Waldorf school, which was also supposed to be a school for children of blue-collar workers.

CA | I think that it contradicts the self-image of an open, tolerant and diverse school culture, as the Waldorf school has, if the composition of the students is so homogeneous. Even if the figures on migration background vary greatly, the proportion of around four percent of Waldorf parents is realistic; in Baden-Württemberg it is around seven percent, but only because Mannheim is included. Incidentally, this is also criticized by high school students in the graduate studies, that they are so isolated. The young people who are traveling globally today also notice this.

EK | Ms. Piwecki, as a board member of the BdFWS, how do you see the composition of the student body changing? Would quotas be helpful?

SP | Quotas are viewed quite controversially everywhere. I would be happy if the topic was discussed more widely in the school movement.

CA | There will probably be no getting around quotas – 20 percent migrants, ten percent from disadvantaged homes in the classes, that would be half the percentage we have in Germany. I have now used the percentages for children and young people, which are higher than the general ones. The discussion about social inequality has picked up speed recently and it will continue to intensify. If Waldorf schools want to be taken seriously in the future, they have to tackle this issue.

EK | But then it would also have to be ensured that teacher training imparts appropriate intercultural skills. That's a separate topic that goes beyond the scope of this interview. Ms. Piwecki, Ms. Adam, thank you very much for the interview!

The interview was conducted by Cornelie Unger-Leistner.