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Imagination and Will In Youth Visions of Their Futures: Prospectivity and Empowerment In Steiner Educated Adolescents

1997, Education, Work and Training

Abstract: This study reports research which investigated the views and visions of the future of adolescents educated within the Rudolf Steiner educational approach. These visions were examined for evidence of prospectivity and personal empowerment. Theoretically contextualised within alternative educational paradigms, Steiner education is unique in that it has strong imaginative, holistic and aesthetic components. Working within the transdisciplinary field of futures studies research, the methods used included quantitative and qualitative, as well as visioning and dialogue processes to actively engage the participants. A questionnaire was completed by 128 senior secondary students of three Steiner schools eliciting data on the students’ views of the ‘probable future.’ In addition, open-ended questions to the whole grouip and visioning workshops with the Year 12 students from one school elicited qualitative data on the students’ visions of their ‘preferred futures.’ Consistent with the literature on youth views of the future, the students expressed many concerns about the future in terms of environmental and social problems and conflict. What has emerged, however, that is unique, is that these students also demonstrated a self confidence that they can do something to change things. It was found that the Steiner students’ visions of their preferred futures had a prospective quality, demonstrating rich images of futures different from the past and present, and which they feel activated towards creating. This proactivity, combined with their sense of active personal optimism indicated that the students felt empowered to create their preferred futures. Further, the Steiner students identified the solutions to the local and global challenges we face to be firmly in the area of human development and action, including such factors as activism, more awareness, attitude and values changes, future care and more spirituality. The findings were linked to aspects of the Steiner approach and lend considerable support to the critical pedagogical speculations of education futures researchers. In conclusion, implications for the futures of education and suggestions for additional research were explored.

CHAPTER 1 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM 'trying to draw a rainbow with a lead pencil' Prospective...a way of focusing and concentrating on the future by imagining it full-blown, rather than drawing deductions from the present. - Gaston Berger (Masini, 1993, p. 55). The past belongs to memory, the present to action and the future to imagination and will...'prospective' which belongs to the future...is related to invention, creativity and will. - Antonio Alonso Concheiro (Masini, 1993, p. 8). Vision values are linked to the way people envision how they want the future to be. In this sense vision values are motivating values because they draw us forward. - Collins and Chippendale (1991, p.10). That images of the future motivate behaviour in the present is a theory with both socio-historical and psychological evidence. - Elise Boulding (1988, p.17). The lack of hope (of youth) for the future reflects the mistakes of the past, the problems of the present and the challenges of the future. But it also suggests a failure of vision, a failure to conceive a future that is appealing and plausible and able to serve as a focus and source of inspiration. - Richard Eckersley (1996, p.65). 1.1 Introduction The above quotes from contemporary futurists throw light on the central dynamic of the research problem of this study, that is, the relationship between imagination and action. The role of imagination in education will be explored in this study in its historical and contemporary educational context. Specifically, the relationship between an imaginative, holistic approach to education and the prospectivity of youth visions of their futures will be investigated. Steiner education is introduced as an innovative, alternative educational approach that has developed over the past 75 years into the largest, non-denominational, independent schooling system in the world. It is based strongly on imaginative, aesthetic, holistic methods grounded in a comprehensive theory of human development. The title of this chapter 'trying to draw a rainbow with a lead pencil' highlights and problematises the challenge of using a strongly rational academic process to research and discuss such qualitative themes as youth visions of their futures, yet such visions are crucial to our tomorrows. In particular, given the research context of a holistic, aesthetic and even ultimately spiritually based approach to education, it is appropriate that the theoretical context, literature review and research itself will be trans-disciplinary with an educational focus. The relatively new, interdisciplinary academic field of Futures Studies research most appropriately provides the primary methodological context. 1.2 Statement of The Research Problem The purpose of this study is to explore links between the educational development of imaginal skills (creative imagination) through Steiner education and the ability of Steinereducated adolescents to envision the future creatively in a way that they feel an active part of it. There are two overlapping aspects to this enquiry. First, the views and visions of the 'probable future' as perceived by a group of Steiner educated senior secondary students will be examined and discussed in the light of contemporary research on mainstream youths' views of the future. Secondly, the Steiner students' visions of their 'preferred futures' will be explored for evidence of prospectivity and personal empowerment, as demonstrated by • their ability to envision a future different from the past and present; • the confidence and willingness of the students to act to create their own preferred futures. The research problem is situated within two main contextual areas as follows. The futures studies field provides the primary research context, particularly the futures research concerning youth views and visions of the future/s, while Steiner education, as an innovative educational alternative, provides the specific research focus. These two fields will be explored throughout the study from several perspectives. As part of the rationale for this study they will be introduced below. Their theoretical backgrounds will be examined in Chapters 2 and 3, with relevant research detailed in Chapter 4. Figure 1.1 below demonstrates how the research problem is situated within these contextual areas. 2 1.3 Rationale for the Research Problem The rationale for the research involves an examination of the two contextual areas described above. Since both the futures studies field and Steiner education are somewhat marginal to mainstream educational research a number of key terms used in these fields need to be explicated, in particular, the following terms which are used in the title: future/futures, imagination, will and prospective. 1.3.1 Definitions and Contextualisation of Key Terms In order to clarify the particular meanings of key terms used in the title and frequently in this research, this section will define and contextualise these terms in relation to their common usage in Steiner education or the futures studies field. Futures Studies Research Youth Views and Visions of the Future/s Steiner students Views and Visions of their Futures Alternative Education - Steiner Figure 1.1 Contextualisation of Theoretical and Methodological Background to the Present Study 3 • One future or many futures. It is most common in everyday discourse to speak of 'the future' as if there were only one possible option as to how 'the future' might be. The present study seeks to problematise this narrowing down of future options. At times the term 'future' singular will be used and this will generally reflect the closure usually associated with what will later be explicated in Chapter 4 as the 'probable future'. Alternatively, this research seeks to open the students' future options by inviting them to envision their own 'preferred futures' which will be individual, unique and multi-faceted. The encouragement to envision a plurality of 'futures' is a feature of the empowerment oriented futures studies research, that inspired the present study. • Imagination is used here to describe an active process whereby dynamic mental images are formed to provide a living synthesis with the intellectual concepts being presented so that they can be understood in a meaningful way. In Steiner schools this active imagining process is strengthened in a number of ways. The foremost of these is the use of story-telling as the primary teaching tool to introduce and reinforce intellectual concepts. The pedagogical rationale for the cultivation of the imagination, through storytelling and the arts, will be examined in Chapters 2 and 3 and illustrated with further examples. • By will is meant the ability to act, to implement, to put into action what one thinks, plans or wishes to do. While the inability to act out one's life choices may be regarded as disempowerment, the faculty of an active will to engage one's life choices is regarded here as an aspect of personal empowerment. The cultivation of the will of the children in Steiner schools is activated by imaginative processes and further enhanced by the practical, experiential approach to learning which will be described in Chapter 3. • Prospective is an important term developed within the futures studies field and is at the heart of the research question: will the students' visions have a prospective (forward looking) rather than a retrospective (past oriented) quality? This term prospective originating with the French futurist Berger in the 1950s includes the three aspects of knowledge, imagination and will (Masini, 1993, p. 2). These concepts closely echo the three faculties of the human being that Steiner education attempts to balance through its holistic approach which integrates the thinking, the feeling life and the will of the child being educated (Steiner, 1909/1965) (See Table 3.1, in Chapter 3). The prospective concept is a key term in the innovative action-oriented thinking of futurists in both developing and developed countries, who see the future in terms of creative change (Masini, 1993). 1.3.2 The Role of the Futures Studies Field in Educational Futures Research The futures studies field provides the primary research context for this study. Although thinking about the future has always been a part of human culture (eg, soothsayers, prophets, and later 'utopians') it has only been in the past three or four decades that it has produced the academic discipline known as Futures Studies (Masini, 1993). The scope 4 of this study limits this section to a review of the broad features of this discipline and some of the key developments in relation to education. General Approaches to Futures Studies Research There are several typologies for categorising the types of futures studies research (Gough, 1989; Frank Hutchinson, 1992; Masini, 1993; Slaughter, 1989a). The approach of Inayatullah (1990), modified by Wildman (1995a), was chosen because it is consistent with the broad research paradigm typology used in this study which draws on the work of Habermas (1972), Grundy (1987) and Guba and Lincoln (1978) as discussed in the methodology section (Chapter 5). While it is commonly thought that futures studies is an attempt to predict the future based on extrapolation from present day trends, this is only one of at least four epistemological approaches to futures research described below. The first three approaches to futures studies are identified by Inayatullah as the predictive, the cultural-interpretive and the critical (Inayatullah, 1990). A fourth approach to research in future studies is identified by Wildman and termed 'futuring' (Wildman, 1995). This applied, 'creactive' approach to futures research may be seen as a development on from the cultural and critical perspectives to futures 'praxis', that is, creating one's future through active visioning and action research. This is an empowerment approach that introduces transformational futures processes, and is also identified by other futurists (Boulding, 1988; Francis Hutchinson, 1996; Masini, 1993; Slaughter, 1989a). It is this empowerment oriented approach to futures research that the present study attempts to engage. Futures Studies and Education The futures studies discipline in relation to education makes use of the methodologies used by futures studies generally (Slaughter, 1989a; Tydeman, 1987). The role of futures studies in the fields of youth research and education takes three broad forms. The first involves the teaching of an actual futures studies curriculum. The second relates to recent research particularly over the last 10-15 years concerning young people's views and visions of the future. The third concerns critical speculations by educational 'futurists' about how education for the future might respond to some of the disturbing findings from the youth futures research. A delimitation of the present study involves dealing not with the futures studies curriculum as such, which will be briefly sketched below, but rather a synthesis of the latter two areas. a) Futures Studies Curriculum. The actual teaching of a future studies curriculum incorporates basic concepts and metaphors, as well as introducing major theories and perspectives. It also includes processes such as the development of imagination and creativity, and utilises a variety of specific methods or tools (Hicks, 1994; Slaughter, 1989a) (See Appendix A: Example Futures Studies Curriculum). The development of futures studies education in this sense is in its infancy in Australia with Queensland being the only state which has incorporated it into the mainstream curriculum, as an elective for Years 11 and 12 students. This may 5 change in the near future in response to some research by the Australian Commission for the Future which has prompted a Youth Futures Forum to discuss such matters (Richard Eckersley, 1996). b) Youth Views of the Future and Related Issues It is believed that any youth research in Australia at the present time needs to acknowledge the serious problems and issues that have appeared and accelerated over the past 10-15 years. Currently in Australia many youth are experiencing a range of crises which may impact on research particularly in regard to how they think about the future. Since the benchmark report by Burdekin in 1989 on youth homelessness, numerous studies and reports have examined this issue and in addition, the rising youth unemployment, and high levels of chronic truancy and educational disenchantment leading to increasing numbers of students 'dropping out' (Beresford, 1993; Burdekin, 1989; Corbett, 1993; Daniel & Connell, 1993; Dwyer, 1989; MacKenzie & Chamberlain, 1992; Senate Standing Committee on Employment Education and Training, 1992; Winefield, Tiggeman, Winefield, & Goldney, 1993). Recent ethnographic research cites the increasing appearance of 'street kids' emerging from the intersection of the above three phenomena (Gidley & Wildman, 1996a, 1996b). Increases over the past decades in youth male suicides in Australia place our rates as among the highest in the industrial world (R. Eckersley, 1988, p. 5). Recent figures from the Australian Institute of Suicide Prevention in Adelaide show that the rate of suicide for young men aged 15-19 has increased from 3.1 deaths per 100,000 in 1964, to 40 deaths per 100,000 today (Hammond, 1996). These figures are four times the rate for young women (R. Eckersley, 1988, p. 5). In this context it is not surprising that recent studies with youth point to the emergence of feelings of deepening negativity, lack of hope, meaning and a sense of disempowerment in relation to the future (Eckersley, 1988; McGregor, 1989; Totaro, 1990; Gidley and Wildman, 1996a, Wilson, 1989; Hutchinson, 1992a). Educational futures researcher Frank Hutchinson (1992a) points out in his critical study of futures consciousness and the school that many of these studies are epistemologically reductionist and do little more than counsel resignation to the inevitability of 'future-shock adjustment'. On the other hand, youth futures research when undertaken by educational futurists takes a more proactive form than that demonstrated in some of the surveys referred to here. Hutchinson points to a form of futures action research involving active visioning of positive futures which has been developed by Elise Boulding and Warren Ziegler, regarding this as an important component in educating for the future (Beare & Slaughter, 1993; Boulding, 1988; Francis Hutchinson, 1992; Ziegler, 1991). Situated epistemologically within the fourth, 'creactive' type of futures studies, this visioning approach is included in the present research. In spite of Hutchinson's concerns about the reductionism of much of the survey research, his own study which focused on 'actively listening to contemporary youth voices about feared futures' drew similarly disturbing findings: 6 Many of the young people in this study expressed a strong sense of negativity, helplessness, despondency and even anguish about the anticipated problems facing their society and the world at large. For a majority, negative imagery of the future ranged from perceptions of intensifying pressure and competition in schools in the twenty-first century to worsening trends in physical violence and war, joblessness and poverty, destructive technology and environmental degradation (Frank Hutchinson, 1994, p. 26). The self-perpetuating possibility that negative views of the future might in turn lead to a further weakening of young people's ability to cope in their present lives is suggested by some researchers (Boulding, 1988; Richard Eckersley, 1993; Slaughter, 1989a). That the situation overall with regard to youth views of the future is not improving is indicated by a recent review of the research in a Schools Council Report which made the following comment 'the more recent the research, the deeper the pessimism' (Hannan, Ferguson, Pollock, & Reeders, 1995). Though these studies and subsequent claims relate to the Australian situation, similar findings are evident throughout the western world (Hicks, 1995; Johnson, 1987; Rogers & Tough, 1992; Rubin, 1996). The above and other relevant research will be reviewed extensively in Chapter 4. c) Critical Speculation about Education for the Future In Australia, the youth problems described above tend to emerge in a context of economic rationalism with its competitive skills-based education driven by the national reform agenda. This move in mainstream curricula in Australia towards harder technologies and more skills-based job oriented competencies is not without critique from liberal educationists and educational futures researchers. By contrast the basic tenets of the Steiner approach which holds to softer and social technologies, and the human-centred, holistic development of individuals challenge many current developments in mainstream education and gain support from educational futures research. Somewhat understandably, over the past decade a number of key educational 'futurists' have developed a critical approach to what they see as the pedagogical implications of the above mentioned responses of western youth to their futures. The wider societal significance of the links drawn in this chapter between current youth issues and the need for futures perspectives and alternative approaches to education is further indicated by Hutchinson in discussing the results of his research with youth: ....expressions (found in the youth views of the future) of lost self-esteem and alienation are unlikely to be adequately met by proffered technocratic solutions to youth unemployment and arguments about necessary long term shifts in work patterns. More education of a narrowly vocational bent, more behaviourist criteria in setting instructional goals, and more insistence on literacy narrowly defined are hardly likely to be adequate in meeting such deep-seated needs deprivation. Rather than sensible foresight and encouragement of active citizenship, it is a probable recipe for exacerbated societal problems ... (such as drug abuse and suicide) (Frank Hutchinson, 1994, p. 30). Critical speculation about alternative forms of education make some clear recommendations about better preparing youth for a rapidly changing and uncertain future, while also considering the needs of future generations (Beare & Slaughter, 1993; Bjerstedt, 1982; Boulding, 1988; Galtung, 1982; Hicks, 1995; Francis Hutchinson, 1996; Slaughter, 1994, 1989b; Tough, 1993). These researchers recommend more holistic, 7 integrated teaching methods using imagination, visualisation, social skills and specific futures methodologies. Intriguingly, many of these are a crucial part of Steiner education. In the concluding remarks of his important study, Hutchinson makes recommendations to teachers and schools about the importance of cultivating balanced development of cognitive/analytical and affective/imaginative learning styles and literacies, implying a holistic approach to learning and teaching. He also refers repeatedly to the work of Elise Boulding (1978, 1988) who stresses the importance of broadening and deepening our skills for imagining a better world. It is Boulding, cited in Hutchinson, who reminds us that an important indicator of optimal (rather than mere functional) forms of literacy is how empowered, as distinct from cynical, resigned, helpless or fatalistic, young people feel in the face of a rapidly changing and complexly interdependent world (Frank Hutchinson, 1992, p.38). It is further implied in this and other research that more holistic, imaginative styles of education might facilitate a more confident, proactive and hopeful futures outlook in young people (Beare & Slaughter, 1993; Richard Eckersley, 1995; Gidley & Wildman, 1996b). Table 1.1 Educational Futures Research - Guidelines for Teaching and Preparing Young People for the 21st Century * 1. Appropriate Imagery - choosing metaphors with care and imagination * 2. Teach for Wholeness and Balance - holistic paradigm * 3. Teach Identification, Connectedness, Integration - epistemological interconnectedness * 4. Develop Individual Values - value the individual * 5. Teach Visualisation - development of the picturing imagination 6. Cultivate Visions of the Future - cultivate images and visions of futures * 7. Empowerment through active hope - distinguish between faith and hope * 8. Tell Stories - use story telling and mythology as powerful teaching tool * 9. Teach and Learn how to Celebrate - celebrate festivals 10. Teach Futures Tools - encourage and use futures tools and methods Source: Beare and Slaughter (1993, p. 129-134) * The asterisked points all refer to important features of Steiner Education listed in Table 3.2 Key Features of Steiner Education, Chapter 3. In a comprehensive conceptual review of current global dimensions of change and consciousness shifts required to prepare young people for the 21st Century, Australian educational futures researchers Hedley Beare and Richard Slaughter list a number of educational features that they recommend schools incorporate to better prepare young people for the future (Beare & Slaughter, 1993). These ten educational features listed in 8 Table 1.1 above are remarkably consistent with the key features of Steiner education described in Chapter 3 (See Table 3.2) with at least eight of the ten points listed below being features of Steiner education. As yet the suggestions and guidelines put forward by Beare and Slaughter have not been applied by educational futures researchers or educators in an integrated fashion in an educational setting which could then be studied. Yet, in effect, in one sense it may be argued that the guidelines suggested by Beare and Slaughter, with the exception of the specific futures methods and tools, are already being implemented in Steiner schools around the world. 1.3.3 Steiner Education - An Innovative Alternative Approach In short Steiner education provides an integrated, holistic balance of intellectual/cognitive, artistic/imaginative and practical/life skills education, as recommended by educational futurists. An important rationale for this research is that it provides an opportunity to investigate, then authenticate the futures views and visions of students who have been educated in an educational style which resembles that recommended by key educational futurists. It should be pointed out here that while Steiner schools do not yet directly offer 'futures education' as such, some of the key educational processes may contribute to prospective thinking in the students. This possibility highlights the central research question. As stated earlier the present study investigates the views and visions of their futures of a group of Steiner educated senior secondary students. The further possibility suggested by contemporary educational futures researchers that such holistic, imaginative styles of education might facilitate more confident, proactive and hopeful outlooks towards the future provides the key rationale for this research. Steiner education represents a rapidly growing and popular private education system with approximately 40 schools in Australia, educating in excess of 5,000 students throughout Australia. The development of Steiner education world-wide and its theoretical context and content will be explicated in Chapter 3. Further, a number of common criticisms of Steiner education will be addressed as part of an overall critique. There have been no formal studies on the outcomes of Steiner education in Australia with only limited research world-wide which will be examined in Chapter 4. The lack of research on the outcomes of Steiner education provides a further rationale for this study. 1.4 Significance and Limitations The significance of this study is implied in the aforementioned rationale. In spite of its growth and popularity over the past decade, no formal research has been undertaken on the educational outcomes of Steiner education in Australia. Access to Steiner schools for research may be restricted for researchers who are not seen as 'insiders' or at least 9 'sympathetic'. The present researcher is in the unique position of having had a decade's involvement and praxis with this form of education. On a personal and professional note, the author was, over a ten year period, the founder and one of the pioneers of a Steiner kindergarten, primary and secondary school. She worked as a teacher of all primary and junior secondary classes, and principal equivalent, during this time. The present research provides an opportunity to reflect on this decade of praxis and then to investigate more objectively some of the questions that arise. The researcher is no longer working professionally within the Steiner education field and as such the insights derive from a reflective journey back over the past praxis. Observations and experience as well as experiential evidence from other colleagues supports the proposition that Steiner educated youth in general are confident and proactive about their role in creating their desired futures. This personal perspective, is undoubtedly a shaping factor in the forming of the central research question of this thesis. Additional aspects of the personal perspectives and their methodological implications will be discussed in Chapter 5. This study is a valuable opportunity to objectify/demystify a significant innovation in an alternative pedagogical paradigm both within and beyond its current sphere of influence. In addition, this research involves an applied investigation of the theories and speculations of critical educational futurists on possible models of education for the future. There are a number of limitations to the study which necessitate attention. These have been identified in the following ways: • There are only 5 of the 40 Steiner schools in Australia in which students can currently complete a full 12 years of formal schooling. Three of these were chosen because they were well established, had reasonable class sizes and agreed to participate in the research process. Two other schools were approached but were unwilling to participate - both of these schools had very small numbers of students in senior secondary (less than ten students per class). • Because of the geographic distance between the three participating schools (Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide) and the limitations of budget and time, the second stage of the research was limited to one class (Year 12) in one school. • Although the study attempts to investigate the views and visions of their futures of these students from the point of view that these are influenced by the type of education they have received, it is impossible to control for all the other variables that might have influenced these students over the years of their education. This issue will be further addressed in Chapter 5. • Although some unique visions were found among the Steiner students considerably more research would be needed to attempt to identify fully what particular aspects of Steiner education were responsible. 10 1.5 Chapter Summary The first chapter has established the research question to be investigated in this study as follows: • Will an analysis of Steiner educated students' views and visions of the future indicate a prospective quality, linking a creative, forward-looking imagination with personal confidence and a will to act, empowering them to create their own futures? This question will be explored in detail in later chapters. The various approaches to futures studies research were overviewed, followed by an introduction to the field of educational futures research. It was shown that the present study draws on a synthesis of critical educational futures and youth futures research. It has been demonstrated that there are a number of indications that many youth in Australia are experiencing a crisis of confidence or hope in what society can offer them for their futures. This was evidenced by recent research on youth views of the future indicating general negativity and lack of hope in conjunction with the variety and extent of increases in problem areas for youth over the past decade. The contribution from critical futures researchers in education was shown to develop from acceptance of problems and fears of future to positions of critique of mainstream education and speculation about changes needed in schooling to better prepare youth for the future. Steiner education was introduced as an alternative educational system offering imaginative, integrated, holistic education, closely resembling the innovations recommended by educational futurists. Chapter 2 will examine in more detail the theoretical basis of these areas which the research embraces - the role of the futures studies field in the question of education for the future, including youth views of the future; and in particular, the educational theory context for holistic, imaginative, artistic and practical alternatives such as Steiner education. 1.6 References Beare, H., & Slaughter, R. (1993). Education for the Twenty-first Century. London: Routledge. Beresford, Q. (1993). The really hard cases. Youth Studies Australia, 12(4), 15-25. Bjerstedt, A. (1982). Future Consciousness and the School (Vol. 62). Malmo: School of Education, University of Lund, Sweden. Boulding, E. (1988). Image and Action in Peace Building. Journal of Social Issues, 44(2), 17-37. Burdekin, B. (1989). Our Homeless Children: Report of the National Enquiry into Homeless Children. Retrieved from Canberra: 11 Collins, C., & Chippendale, P. (1991). New Wisdom: The Nature of Social Reality. 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