Multidimensional history lessons

The green panel slowly turns blue. More and more. A class teacher brings the Atlantic Ocean into the classroom of the seventh grade. He draws a large wooden ship with large white sails in the middle of it. The Age of Discovery begins. «This is an important subject that the children often enjoy. But even the name of the era is no longer appropriate from today's point of view,» says Stephanie Sell, class teacher at Augsburg Waldorf School and member of the board of Bund der Freien Waldorfschulen (the Association of Independent Waldorf Schools in Germany). Introducing the seafarers only as explorers is trivializing and whitewashing. For as we know today, they conquered, killed, took possession, enslaved people and suppressed or even wiped out cultures. One example is the Portuguese king's son, who later became known as Henry the Navigator. According to Sell, his voyages were also primarily motivated by economic rather than missionary interests. Henry's aim was to establish trade with India, which was controlled by the Arabs at the time, by sailing around Africa. In many Waldorf schools, however, children are still told that Henry the Navigator acted for moral reasons and wanted to bring Christianity to the world. «But it's okay to name economic interests as such. Not everything has to be wrapped in sacredness to be considered a motif», says Sell, especially as this age group is highly interested in economic contexts. After all, this does not detract from the decisiveness and admirable sense of direction with which his sailors navigated the world's oceans with great precision. It is simply the other part of the truth.

Passed on books of block lessons

Sell thus describes a history lesson that we believe is still taught far too often in Germany and that is no longer up to date. Although there is no valid data on the current state of history lessons, the participants of Forum Geschichte were nevertheless able to come to a differentiated conclusion based on their professional and institutional expertise. As a rule, class teachers are responsible for history lessons in grades five to eight. We found that many of them consistently adhere to a concept that follows a content and structure that was suggested over a hundred years ago and then gradually standardized after 1945. Due to a lack of newly prepared material, the main references are the books of block lessons passed on internally by previous teachers, which are now also easily available online, as well as outdated handouts. The internal criticism of the adoption of esoteric content, but also of a fictitious history of ancient cultures based on Steiner's anthroposophy, which has been conveyed for over 20 years through publications and in some cases also at teachers' training seminars, has proved ineffective in the face of this conceptual consistency. In many cases, this has still not led to a lasting correction of such misinformation. A problematic, unquestioned epochalization and incorrect dating, and in particular a hierarchical understanding of culture, therefore often characterize the practice of introductory history lessons, although classroom teachers are often unaware of this.

30 Project groups

In this respect, Waldorf schools and their anthroposophical principles must completely reposition themselves – however, without giving up their identity. The members of the Forum Geschichte are convinced of this. The initiative wants to contribute to bringing Waldorf schools and their understanding of culture and history into the 21st century. Specifically, it intends to promote the process of renewal of the cultural studies area at Waldorf schools, which is considered necessary, through discourse, fundamental contributions, handouts, material offerings, practical suggestions and offers of further training. It sees itself as a continuation of the curriculum group for history and is based at the Pädagogischen Forschungsstelle des Bundes der Freien Waldorfschulen (Pedagogical Research Center of the Association of Waldorf Schools in Germany). For over two years, more than 30 colleagues have been involved in the success of this reform project – most of them on a voluntary basis, alongside their teaching activities. In 30 sub-projects, the theory and practice of history teaching are discussed against the background of current cultural challenges, current historical science and the basic ideas of Waldorf education. With their elaborations and new concepts, the project groups of the Forum Geschichte want to position Waldorf schools as places that contribute to shaping a better future. Consequently, some projects are aimed at social and academic discourse, others at improving school practice. The opportunity to overcome the conservative shadow of Waldorf schools calls for networked communication between all individual projects. This is new, as the individual contributions used to stand on their own. However, experience has shown that valuable things were often overlooked and neglected in this way. We need a general change in awareness of the cultural basis of Waldorf education at Waldorf schools, but above all we need improved practice. This is why the task of coordinating and communicating the results of the Forum Geschichte is a separate project – it acts as a kind of umbrella project for the individual projects. Through networking and communication, synergies are to be utilized and a spirit of optimism and change generated in the school movement. In addition to myself, Albert Schmelzer and with a focus on international coordination, Martyn Rawson are also responsible for this. The latter is responsible for cooperation with the international committees of the Waldorf school movement and with associations in other countries.

Entry narratives already available as podcasts

Here in Germany, Sibylla Hesse is working on the final version of the evaluation of her empirical survey of Waldorf students on the quality of history lessons in the upper school. (See also the article by Sibylla Hesse, editor's note). In addition, there are project groups for history lessons at all year levels. The handouts with specific suggestions for history lessons in the fifth grade are to be published this year. Examples for the introductory narratives for the first block of history lessons are already available online as podcasts and will be further expanded. The global expansion of the history of the Middle Ages for the sixth and eleventh grades with the aspects of cultural encounters, migrations and long-distance relationships in the period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the modern era will also be the focus of working sessions and specialist conferences in 2025. New perspectives on the history of the early modern period in seventh grade with its global historical dimension will also be presented in 2025. We are working on a multi-perspective approach here, which should prepare and enable students to encounter others. This year, I will be publishing a multi-perspective workbook for eighth grade history lessons for students titled Europe in One World: Spaces, States and Colonialism. The book also contains contributions from colleagues from Waldorf schools in other countries. The publication is to be supplemented by a handbook for teachers. For class ten, the approach of a cultural history from early times to antiquity will be revised. The educational contribution to training the ability to deal with the unfamiliar (alterity competence), the ability to tolerate uncertainty (ambiguity tolerance) and the simultaneity of dialogical history is emphasized. Albrecht Hüttig creates a handout on the history of China for twelfth grade. In a separate project, local history in fourth grade is examined and newly established. The term Heimatkunde (homeland studies) urgently needs to be replaced because it evokes ethnic associations and false pedagogical intentions. The aim of the project is not only to bring these lessons up to date and continue to establish a local history that includes regional history and geography, but also to develop a dialogical concept of home that corresponds to the intercultural composition of the students. Beginning with local history in fourth grade and continuing through to the history of modern civilization in eighth grade, history lessons also offer numerous opportunities to integrate a systematic approach to economics and thus incorporate a missing educational element into Waldorf lessons.

Online platform allows for constant update

In October last year, a completely revised version of the entire history curriculum went online. Many of the results of our work have already been incorporated into the new curriculum. The fact that the syllabus is no longer published in a printed version means that further updates are possible at any time. With this in mind, we are also working on setting up an online platform for history at Waldorf schools with editorial responsibility, which will be located at the Pädagogische Forschungsstelle (Pedagogical Research Center) and will make curriculum content, didactic-pedagogical justifications, specific handouts, materials and good examples available in conjunction with other online offerings in the Waldorf school sector. The conferences of the contributors give reason to hope that a networked and diverse offering will emerge.