Waldorf Education
The first Waldorf School was established in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1919. There are now more than 1,000 accredited Waldorf Schools in over 50 countries (as of June 2009). In North America there are over 170 independent schools affiliated with the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA), and many public and charter schools use Waldorf methods to enrich their teaching. There are also over 50 full-time Waldorf teacher-training institutes around the world; including eight in the United States and one in Canada.
Introduction To Waldorf Education
Waldorf Education has its roots in the pedagogical research of the Austrian scientist and thinker Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925).
While every Waldorf school is administratively independent, visitors recognize many characteristics common to them all. For example, Waldorf schools do not teach religion, but we acknowledge and support each family's spiritual journey.
When children relate what they learn to their own experience, they are interested and alive, and what they learn becomes their own. Waldorf schools are designed to foster this kind of learning.
Waldorf pedagogy begins with the philosophy that humans are threefold beings of spirit (thinking), soul (feeling), and body (willing) whose capacities unfold in recognizable developmental stages on the path to adulthood.
