The International Association for Steiner/Waldorf Early Childhood Education (IASWECE) is an organ of the cultural impulse of Rudolf Steiner and the worldwide Steiner/Waldorf movement.
“Against a background of prevailing materialistic trends in education and modern culture, the protection, indeed the salvation, of childhood as the fundamental stage of each individual’s unfolding life has become a worldwide pioneering work.”
– Dr. Helmut von Kuegelgen, in the Preamble to the IASWECE Statutes
As colleagues working together in this world association, our goals are to
- Foster co-operation among colleagues throughout the world, through meetings, conferences, working groups, etc.
- Deepen and renew the work with the young child out of the sources of Waldorf education, and support its quality
- Foster training and continuing development opportunities for caregivers, kindergarten teachers and educators
- Undertake and support collaborative research on contemporary questions regarding the care and education of the young child
- Collaborate with parents, other educators and the wider society about the needs of the young child
- Protect the freedom and name of Steiner/Waldorf early childhood education
- Provide resources, information and publications on Steiner/Waldorf early childhood education
- Offer support – human, educational and financial – for projects seeking to foster Steiner/Waldorf early childhood education throughout the world.
“In our Association, all who serve the education of children, the training of educators, the cooperation with parents, and the development of human culture at large – spiritually, legally and economically, work together… The fruitfulness of worldwide cooperation beyond all limits of language, politics and religion is a tried and tested experience.”
– Helmut von Kügelgen