2019
Statement of the International Forum for Steiner/Waldorf Education
10 principles for education in the digital world
Through the ages, different forms of media have contributed to the shaping of human thoughts and culture. Media education, in the form of spoken and written language and mathematical lines of thoughts (algorithms), have traditionally been fundamental elements of school education. Today our everyday lives are pervaded and shaped by digital technologies, bringing new challenges for society, in particular for teaching and learning. Economic interests threaten to dominate discussions about what kind of education children and teenagers need to equip them for life in the digital world. Only a form of education based on an active understanding of the principles of child development will empower young people to use modern media creatively and effectively. We therefore call for a conceptual framework that will enable implementation of the following principles:
1. Media maturity is an educational goal of central importance. It can only be reached through an educational practice that nurtures the development of the autonomous personality in each child.
2. Responsible media education focuses on the opportunities and risks of media use and on the ethical questions and issues it poses; it aims at anchoring children firmly in themselves and in the world so that they will learn to use modern media in a responsible, considerate and reflective way.
3. Healthy and sustainable school media education will therefore start by fostering a diverse, direct and individual experience of the world and of society that nourishes and cultivates the senses.
4. Media education that resonates with the principles of child development starts by strengthening children's relevant social, communicative and intellectual abilities (indirect media education), and adding abilities and competencies in media use (direct media education), at a later stage.
5. A media education curriculum based on children's developmental tasks in kindergarten and primary school years will therefore emphasize primary, ‘hands on’ experiences for the children and the mastering of analogue media like handwriting. Later grades will build from this foundation with active media work on digital devices thereby stimulating a conscious use of media based on self-reflection.
6. Nurseries, kindergartens and schools should be able to decide on the design, structure and implementation of their media education programmes with the greatest possible discretion. We must therefore ensure that early years educators have the right and the opportunity to work only with analogue media in the early years and during the first years of school. At the beginning of the secondary school phase, schools should be supported in providing modern media as technical equipment and introducing media usage that supports educational processes.
7. Education and pedagogy serve the well-being and learning of children and young people. Economic and commercial interests should not determine the purposes or methods of the educational system.
8. Digital culture brings new challenges for the protections of freedom and personal dignity. Beginning in the secondary school phase, pupils should begin to learn how algorithms work, about data protection, the rights of use of intellectual property, the risks of commercial manipulation - in particular when revealing personal data - information and images, as well as respect for the dignity and privacy of others.
9. Modern media unlocks new forms of communication, creative and artistic opportunities and entrepreneurial pursuits. With the help of projects where pupils can try and evaluate their creative ideas individually or in teams, schools should educate students about the various types of productive use of media that go beyond just information sourcing and information exchange.
10. Modern media raise a series of ethical and philosophical questions concerning the significance of human relationships and the nature of our relationship with the environment. Further questions arise concerning the relationship between statements, judgements and facts, the issue of personal responsibility, transhumanism, privacy protection and decision-making, and the question as to how one can participate in digital culture in a healthy and responsible way. Consequently, secondary school education should encourage the use of media and teach the opportunities and the risks of digitalization in all areas of life.
Annotations
1. Media maturity is an educational goal of central importance. It can only be reached through an educational practice that nurtures the development of the autonomous personality in each child. It is the generally agreed consensus and declared goal of contemporary pedagogical systems that at the end of their school education, children should be able to meet the demands of life in a digital world. What should be debated, however, are the methods employed to reach the educational goal of "media maturity". We consider the healthy physical, emotional, social and mental development of each child to be a prerequisite and preparation for autonomous use of media. This will lay the foundation for an active, responsible and reflective life and consequently for skilful and independent use of media.
2. Responsible media education focuses on the opportunities and risks of media use and on the ethical questions and issues it poses; it aims towards anchoring children so firmly in themselves and in the world that they will learn to use modern media in a responsible, considerate and reflective way. There is no doubt that digital technologies bring great benefits and their opportunities are yet to be fully tapped. They will shape civilization in the 21st century. The discussion about media education should therefore also consider its questionable and detrimental side effects such as a loss of a sense of reality, online addiction, grooming, cyber-bullying, and social autism. The risks entailed in the use of digital media increase in inverse proportion to the child's age and lack of experience. Screen-based media are often "time-eaters", because they steal important time from children that could be used for pursuing individual activities, thereby robbing them of the opportunities to acquire abilities necessary to cope with the real world. The experience of borders and associated conditions and consequences occur in real space and real time and are part of any experience of the self. It is a highly debatable whether the limits and edges in the ‘real’ world can be encountered and realised in virtual space. In addition, there are huge doubts and questions as to whether healthy physical and mental maturation is supported in any way through exposure to the screen-based world of digitalisation. A comprehensive strengthening of the individual is a prerequisite for a self-determined and ethically responsible use of digital media.
3. A healthy and sustainable school education will therefore start by fostering a diverse, immediate, direct and individual experience of the world and of society that cultivates and nourishes <s>all</s> the senses. An indirect media education develops abilities and dispositions that are important in the age of digital technologies: focused attention, differentiated perception, self-discipline, initiative, and above all, a general education which allows each person to recast information into relevant knowledge within a meaningful context. These abilities and dispositions are formed in the direct relationship between the individual and the world. In the face of increasing cyberbullying it is, therefore, important to offer the children and young people integrated and differentiated learning experiences where they can practise interacting with others with respect and mindfulness. In the face of ecological challenges, it is also important to allow children to develop a direct, sensorial relationship with the surrounding world.
4. Media education that resonates with principles of child development starts by strengthening children's relevant social, communicative and intellectual abilities (indirect media education), adding abilities and competencies in media use (direct media education) at a later stage. Indirect media education cultivates the social, communicative skills and ecological awareness that are particularly needed in this age of digital communication. It lays the foundations for the constructive use of digital media that will help solve technical, social and ecological problems. Turning towards a programme of direct media education, the aims are two-fold. Firstly, to integrate digital media in educational processes at school, establishing a productive and committed use of media to gain information, to design, and to interact with others, complementing out-of-school media activities that tend to be geared mainly towards entertainment and communication. Secondly, direct media education must convey to pupils the importance of not just naively trusting images and statements found in the digital network, and providing young people with a sense that they can exercise some control over the use of information published on the internet, and promote a sense that these media should not be used in a harmful or manipulative way.
5. A media education curriculum based on children's developmental tasks in kindergarten and primary school years as proposed by Waldorf education will therefore emphasize ‘hands on’ primary experiences for the children and the control of analogue media like handwriting. Later grades can build up from this foundation with active media work on digital devices and by stimulating a conscious use of media based on self-reflection. A media education based on principles of child development focuses on providing diverse primary experiences in preschool years and teaches analogue techniques in the lower grades. Until about the seventh year of life, the focus of child development is on physical development – the development of gross and fine motor skills, of language, the formation of the senses and sensory motor skills. Increasing bodily control correlates with the structural growth and development of the brain. A healthy development of the brain therefore requires a varied experience of the world with all the senses and lots of physical and motoric activity. Starting from around the twelfth year of life, children develop a more rational, formal operational mode of thinking. Only then does it make pedagogical sense to stimulate a deeper understanding of digital processes and devices and <s>of</s> the principal functions of information technology. The first foundations can be taught without the use of digital devices at all (e.g. CS Unplugged), and children need no tablet, computer or other electronic device to understand algorithms. Computational thinking can be introduced by analogue means. Hardware and software come into play when the intellectual and ethical requirements have been built to use them creatively and purposefully in everyday life. Digital tools should then be integrated into a meaningful programme of learning, underpinned by a clear pedagogical concept. Teenagers should preferably be given the opportunity to actively use digital media by creating their own video films for instance, or designing their own websites and publishing texts online, or by producing a radio feature on a school-related topic. This is when students begin to be able to integrate information into processes of cognition and contextualisation. Then, increasingly from the age of approximately fourteen, teenagers can increasingly think and act in an individually responsible manner. Media maturity can be developed on this basis, and accordingly young people are prepared to grapple with essential and pressing questions such as the relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence, the ethical use of AI, the prospect of trans-humanism, issues of differentiated levels of communication, and the challenges and opportunities presented by the devolving of responsibility to the individual and our collective shaping of society.
6. Nurseries, kindergartens and schools must be able to decide on the design, structure and implementation of their media education programmes with the greatest possible freedom. We must therefore ensure that early years educators have the right and the opportunity to work only with analogue media in the early years and during the first years of school. At the beginning of the secondary school phase schools should be supported to provide modern media as technical equipment, introducing media usage that supports educational processes. To achieve the aim of setting up a responsible, reasoned, and self-determined use of media as outlined above, educational policies should guarantee that the use of digital media is not mandatory for toddlers and primary school children. The focus of the current discussion on digital technologies ignores the fact that the acquisition and mastery of "old" media; in particular writing, is an indispensable prerequisite for a mature use of digital information technologies. Media education still starts with learning to read and write; because mastering script is the basic skill upon which all further media maturity builds. Increasingly, digital processes are replacing analogue ones. In this development, basic concepts of older, analogue technologies are often then transferred to digital ones. Understanding analogue technologies therefore continues to be essential for grappling with the skilful use and mature application of digital technologies. We call for public funds to be invested initially in high quality teacher education and the design of purpose-built kindergartens and schools, before financing the purchase of digital devices and the associated infrastructure. We also call for a learning programme to provide opportunities for parents and teachers to build media competency and ethical standards, so they will become model users. It is absurd that there is little money provided for the renovation of dilapidated school buildings, while it seems there are always funds to equip schools with digital devices. This must stop. From the beginning of the secondary school phase, it is necessary to provide appropriate technical equipment required for using digital media, and this should be supported by public funds. This is part of a sound learning infrastructure which also includes buildings, resources and sufficiently trained staff.
7. Education and pedagogy serve the well-being and learning of children and young. Economic and commercial interests should not determine the purposes or methods of the educational system. Present-day plans to equip pre-schools and schools with digital infrastructure are by no means motivated only by educational aspects and concerns about the future viability of society but are also driven by commercial interests. A critical, consumption-conscious, and self-determined use of media is not simply a matter of economic interest but should rather be about the development of a person's independence. Responsible and intelligent policy regarding media education can only be developed when the pedagogical setting is protected from the influence of those whose primary motive is to make money with digital technologies and networks. With its commitment to promote independence and self-management, Waldorf education sees the strengthening of professional freedom in teaching and innovation in education as prerequisites for a renewal of society through proactive, creative and socially responsible individuals.
8. Digital civilization brings new challenges for the protections of freedom and personal dignity. Beginning in the secondary school phase, pupils should begin to learn how algorithms work, about data protection, the rights of use of intellectual property, the risks of commercial manipulation - in particular when revealing personal data - information and images, as well as respect for the dignity and privacy of others. It should be the central concern of any media education focused on the development of self-determined personalities to develop the technical and social aspects of digital media for critical, problem-focused reflection and for their viable use for the benefit of all. This requires not only theoretical and academic styles of learning<s>,</s> but also learning through practical experience. It is necessary to generate awareness and sensitivity regarding the threats to privacy and the individual through reflection and experience, but also to gain a perspective for the further development of digital civilization serving a common welfare.
9. Modern media unlock new forms of communication, creative and artistic opportunities and entrepreneurial pursuits. With the help of projects where pupils can try and evaluate their creative ideas individually or in teams, schools should educate students about the various types of productive use of media that go beyond just information sourcing and information exchange. Schools should increase their efforts to introduce pupils to a more productive and active use of digital media. New forms of teamwork and collaborative production, of exchange and documentation should be considered. Media competency can be broadened through projects such as film and audio productions, programming or app development. The focus here is not the use of educational software, but independent learning through doing and creative expression as pathways to understanding. The schools need support to fulfil this educational mandate and to establish the necessary technical and professional human resources and expertise.
10. Modern media raise a series of ethical and philosophical questions concerning the significance of human relationships and the nature of our relationship with the environment. Further questions arise concerning the relationship between statements, judgements and facts, the issue of personal responsibility, transhumanism, privacy protection and decision-making, and the question as to how one can participate in digital culture in a healthy and responsible way. Consequently, secondary school education should encourage the use of media and teach the opportunities and the risks of digitalization in all areas of life. Promoting individual freedom and independence is at the core of Waldorf education. The autonomy of the individual is based on self-reflection and a caring consideration and contemplation of the surrounding contexts and conditions. Digital civilization has the potential to threaten human dignity, privacy, free decisions and opinions. It requires new societal rules and the integration of those norms that enable individual human existence to expand into new dimensions. In other words: digital culture must be shaped and structured ethically. In the discourse necessary to achieve this development education is a primary partner and the discussion must include the young people growing into this world and who are preparing to take their places within it.