Bulgaria

In Bulgaria there are two Waldorf kindergartens – in Sofia and Varna – and also a Waldorf school.

There are many additional parent initiatives. The demand for Waldorf education is great and there are therefore many public lectures, introductory and part-time seminars and workshops are constantly being organized, so that new teachers, parents and colleagues can be won for this work. The introductory and advanced courses were also supported by IASWECE in 2015. Courses for early childhood educators and parents took place in Sofia in May and August 2015, each attended by 30 to 40 participants.

Training. From 2013 to 2105 a part-time training course took place in Varna. A new course is planned to take place in Sofia in 2016.


Looking Back. In 2002 an association called “Friends of Waldorf Pedagogy” was founded in Sofia. From 2004 to 2007, an annual four-week seminar for Waldorf early childhood educators and teachers took place. At the end of September 2007, a kindergarten called “Zlatno strantse” (Golden Grain), opened in Sofia. Since there is no law in Bulgaria permitting independence in education, the kindergarten was authorized “with elements of Waldorf pedagogy” by the Ministry of Education. It began with three children. After going through many trials and difficulties, the kindergarten slowly stabilized, and it expanded in 2009. Today there are 24 children.

Two years later, parents of the Waldorf kindergarten, with the support of a few teachers and others, initiated the founding of a Waldorf school, and the first school in Bulgaria opened in fall 2011. In Sofia, two further groups have emerged from the original Waldorf kindergarten and are working in the direction of Waldorf.

Valitshka Jordanova (Waldorf early childhood educator in Sofia) and Seyda Aysel (Waldorf early childhood educator from Berg on Lake Starnberg in Germany)