Steiner education

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) founded the first Waldorf Steiner School in Stuttgurt, Germany in 1919. The school arose in response to the wishes of workers at the Waldorf cigarette factory for their children to receive an integrated education which the parents themselves had not had. Steiner who was a philosopher, scientist and scholar oversaw the founding of the first school and developed a carefully structured approach to education. From this seed has grown a worldwide movement of Steiner (Waldorf) schools offering a comprehensive, integrated, cohesive curriculum which responds to the child’s developmental, age-specific needs.

 

Steiner schools provide education for children aged between 3 and ideally 18 (although this is dependent on uptake in any particular location) and welcomes families from all cultural backgrounds and faiths. All Steiner schools are co-educational and comprehensive; they offer a non-setted, non-streamed approach to learning. Thus the classroom becomes a microcosm of society, reflecting different cultures, faiths and abilities striving to live in harmony and learning not only from the teacher but also from each other.