Mezentseva O. Social-pedagogical bases of child's educational environment harmonization in the Waldorf Schools practice

Dissertation for the degree Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences – 13.00.05 – Social Pedagogy. – Institute of Educational Problems at National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, 2019. The dissertation is devoted to the problem of harmonization of child's educational environment in secondary school. It discloses and studies socio-pedagogical foundations of the mentioned issue and examines Waldorf Schools’ environment as an example. The definitions of the basic concepts of the research are proposed and their content is disclosed. New scientific and practical results are obtained. The author analyzed the academic researcher on Waldorf Education and determined the methodological approaches to its further research as a social pedagogical phenomenon. Based on analysis and generalization of philosophy, psychology, anthropology and social pedagogy concepts on the harmonious development of a child, the notion "harmonization of child's educational environment" was developed. The notion of "Waldorf School Educational Environment" was determined as a social-pedagogical construct of three-component interaction. For the first time the author carried out a theoretical and methodological comprehension of the philosophical and pedagogical heritage of R. Steiner in the context of harmonization of child's educational environment. The author distinguished the main components of the socio-pedagogical foundations for child's educational environment harmonization at the Waldorf School. They are the set of the conceptual ideas of R. Steiner’s pedagogical anthropology and the socio-pedagogical conditions of their practical implementation. The comparative analysis of child's educational environment of Waldorf Schools in Ukraine and the other European countries allowed the author to determine the challenges and critical points of Waldorf Schools’ development. The author has updated the statistics and tendencies of Waldorf Schools’ development in Ukraine and the International Waldorf Schools Movement.