CREATING HARMONIOUS SCHOOL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: WALDORF EDUCATION PERSPECTIVE.

Abstract

This paper investigates the challenges in creating learning environments modern schools facing today. The physical environment is undoubtedly playing an important role at education of 21st century being a part of much wider educational ecosystem and social culture. The task of modern learning environments is to ensure that every learner is provided with every opportunity to be an active participant in learning, to achieve highly, and to be celebrated for who he\she is. Waldorf School is taken as an example of the education system striving to humanize and harmonize the space of a school. The Waldorf Education approach by which the forms and spaces of the school are designed and built is based on the anthroposophical ideas of Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian scientist who developed a way of thinking that he applied to different aspects of a human being life. He suggested a number of principles of organic architecture, a philosophy of architecture that promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world. The paper considers the key points of Waldorf Schools’ architecture and design in connection to creating child-centred school learning environment for fostering the psychological well-being and collaborative culture of students. The Bochum Model or ‘Moveable Classroom’, a concept for the 1st and 2nd grades practiced at some Waldorf Schools is presented as a new concept that meets children’s developmental needs in a new way.