Drawing Development in Mainstream and Waldorf Steiner Schools Revisited

Although different approaches to teaching children to draw have been advocated and practiced, little is known about how these may influence children’s developing drawing abilities. In this study the drawings of pupils receiving an art education which attempts to teach representational and expressive skills concurrently (mainstream schools in England) are compared to those of pupils who experience an alternative art education which emphasizes imaginative, creative and expressive drawings before introducing representational drawing skills (Waldorf Steiner schools).
One hundred and sixty 7- to 16-year-old pupils from the two school types completed three expressive (happy, sad and angry) drawings, two representational drawings (an observational drawing of a mannequin and a drawing of a house from memory) and one free drawing. Two artists rated all the drawings for quality on 7-point scales, and stylistic features (scene-based, size and color) of the free drawings were assessed. No consistent between-school differences were found in the expressive drawings but Waldorf pupils produced superior representational drawings. In respect of stylistic differences Waldorf pupils produced larger and more scene-based free drawings. Waldorf pupils also combined colors more frequently, and the 7- and 10-year-olds tended to use more colors than their Mainstream school counterparts. These results appear inconsistent with the difference in emphasis on expression and representation in the two school types. However, observational research investigating actual classroom practices within the two school types is required, as maybe practices differ to what is outlined in the curricula.