Repeating a year and selection

School year curriculae have been established to correlate with the psychological and mental development of the children.

For the admission of a child to a specific class, the decision is not based so much on the child's cognitive abilities and level of knowledge as it is on the general level of the child's development.

Ideally, the students of one class form a class community that will last throughout the 12 years of the Waldorf school cycle.

There is no selection, neither by making students repeat a year nor by differentiating between academic and vocational courses after Grade 6. The future workman and the future academic will have the same basic education.

It is true that the level in the different classes becomes quite heterogenous since people of different capacities aren't split up due to some having to repeat a year. However, our experience shows that this heteroneousness has a positive influence on the development of the students' social competences. In addition, slower students are encouraged and supported by the fact that they stay in a curriculum fitting to their age.