France

Europe, France

There are 21 Waldorf kindergartens in France – approximately half of them are part of a Waldorf school. A large number are in or near Paris, Provence, the Riviera, and Alsace.

Financial support from the government is available only to schools and kindergartens that follow the national curriculum, and this does not leave much space for Waldorf education. Therefore Waldorf parents and educators often have a great deal of idealism and capacity for improvisation, necessary in order to fight for a space for free play in the centralized and highly regulated French school system.

Aside from the lack of funding, however, there are some very favorable working conditions: every kindergarten that does not receive government support has the greatest possible educational freedom, also in regard to school entrance age.

Training. Two training centers (in Chatou, near Paris, and in Avignon) offer three-year part-time training courses in Waldorf education. A number of trainers are making efforts to establish a state-recognized Waldorf early childhood training including Waldorf educational elements, but thus far without success.

Collaboration. Since 1995, Waldorf schools and kindergartens have been working together in the „Fédération des écoles Steiner-Waldorf.“ Each autumn there is a national meeting, and in spring there is a special conference for Waldorf educators working with children in the first seven years.

Care for the Very Young Child. There are five nurseries (child care centers) whose caregivers have a Waldorf orientation. A group of 15 trained Waldorf educators have recently completed a further training in birth to three care (with Michaela Gloeckler and Geseke Lundgren). This initiative group organizes regional training courses and is seeking to integrate preparation for birth to three work into existing training courses.

Looking back. Since the end of the 19th century, the education of children from age three has been part of the very strict secular federal school system. Since then, the „école maternelle“ has offered school activities for three- to six-year-olds at no charge. Thus it is no surprise that Waldorf kindergartens founded in 1949 in Strasbourg and shortly afterwards in Paris did not readily find successors. Only in the 80’s and 90’s when it became clear how difficult it is to reform the state school system, did a modest wave of new Waldorf kindergarten foundings begin.

Philipp Reubke is a Waldorf educator in Mulhouse/France und a member of the IASWECE Coordinating Group.

Website of the French Steiner-Waldorf Association of Schools and Kindergartens
Training in Chatou/Paris
Training in Avignon

United Kingdom

Europe, United Kingdom

Waldorf Education has been established in the UK for 100 years. The United Kingdom includes kindergartens (settings) in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (North and some South). There are around 18 schools with kindergartens, and together with the independent kindergartens, Daycare settings, woodland groups, childminders, parent and child groups and new initiatives, reach around 1500 children and their families.

Almost all 3 and 4 year olds have government subsidised places, and there is one fully state funded school.

Training. There are two Steiner Waldorf early childhood training courses birth to seven which carry a Diploma at Level 5 and are fully government recognised within England. Both these courses meet the IASWECE guidelines for trainers. An established course specialises in the child between birth and three, giving a strong foundation in Steiner Waldorf practice for this age group, as well as deepening an understanding of the Pikler approach to respectful care. It carries a government recognised qualification for Childcare at level 3. www.waldorfeducation.uk/careers/teacher-training

Support for kindergartens and schools. In order to use the name Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf in relation to education, settings and projects need to register with Waldorf UK,(formerly Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship) which is the overarching charity providing support and guidance.

Looking back. In the 1940’s, a group of kindergarten teachers established what is now the Steiner Waldorf Early Years Group (SWEYG) made up of early childhood teachers, home childcare professionals, teacher trainers and advisors. This still meets twice a year and enables Waldorf UK to keep abreast of challenges facing the schools and kindergartens.

Janni Nicol, Waldorf early childhood consultant, and Board member of IASWECE, Publisher and Editor of KINDLING, Journal for Steiner Waldorf Early Childhood. www.kindlingjournal.org

Website of the country association WALDORF UK www.waldorfeducation.uk

Austria

Austria, Europe

In Austria, around 1300 children are currently cared for in 37 Waldorf kindergartens. There are 22 Birth to Three groups attached to existing kindergartens.

Although the demand for kindergarten places is still increasing in Birth to three sector and in all-day care, there are increasing fluctuations in the number of children, partly due to growing mobility and changes in the living conditions of families.

Children generally start school at the age of six.

Depending on the federal state, parental contributions are currently subsidized by the state up to a maximum of 80%.

The work on the educational community of parents and educators through careful introduction to pedagogy, support and advice is taking up more and more space and time.

A look back. In the mid-20s of the last century, there was a lively anthroposophical life in Vienna and there was great enthusiasm for Rudolf Steiner’s impulses, including a renewal of pedagogy. The first kindergarten was established in Vienna in 1927. In the post-war years, there were renewed initiatives from 1955 onwards, until Waldorf education finally gained a foothold in kindergartens in all of Austria’s federal states in 2012. As a rule, kindergartens were founded at the same time as the now 20 schools. Kindergartens with one to five groups as well as the schools are located both in urban areas and in very rural areas, whereby the inclusion of nature is a concern everywhere.

Cooperation within the Waldorf Association Austria. Waldorf schools and kindergartens are members of the Waldorf Association Austria, which was founded in 1981 and represents the interests of Waldorf institutions nationwide.

Cooperation and exchange takes place in regular meetings between representatives of the schools in the working groups for education, business, parents, public relations, quality development and in the kindergarten working group.

The kindergarten working group is organized as a federal state representation of the kindergartens. Pedagogical, legal and organizational guidelines are initiated here and cooperation is coordinated. An annual advanced training conference is also held.

The current cycle of conferences The kindergarten as a place of healthy development has been running since 1922 and – starting with the work on the earth – relates the fields of life of anthroposophy “from the ground up” to the core educational task with a further focus each year. The deepening and continuous supplementation of the topics proves its worth. (See picture).

In 2019/20, all working groups of the Waldorf Association worked together to develop Guidelines for self-administration. In 2020/21, the first Training course for kindergarten management took place on the basis of self-administration. The new course from 2024 is also open to administrative quality development as a Basic course for self-administration.

Pedagogical training courses. Training in Waldorf kindergarten pedagogy was founded in 1990 as a 3-year part-time Waldorf Kindergarten Seminar in Vienna. It has produced around 300 active kindergarten teachers to date. The participants have either already completed state training or state recognition can be obtained through a one-year advanced training course.

Since 2002, the Waldorf-Seminar-Salzburg has also been running a 3-year in-service-training course in Waldorf kindergarten education.

In 2022, the Waldorf Seminar Salzburg was able to launch a Basic Course in education from Birth to three which had been missing for some time and in which many teachers already working in Birth to three groups also took part. The course will start again in fall 2024.

Current further tasks for the future. The fulfillment of the educational mission in Waldorf kindergartens in comparison to the requirements of the state educational framework plan for elementary educational institutions was newly developed as a basic concept in 2024. This is available to all colleges to supplement according to the respective institution.

Ways of ensuring quality in training for early childhood and kindergarten education and in the daily practice of Waldorf education must continue to be developed.

The expansion of mentorship, the support of colleges and boards as well as the possibilities for covering the increasing demand for personnel constantly raise questions.

There is still room for improvement in the regional, national and international networking of kindergartens.

Status May 2024

Ursula Dotzler, Kindergarten Wien-Mauer, on the working group and board of the Waldorf Association Austria and member of the IASWECE Council

www.waldorf.at

www.waldorfkindergartenseminar.at

www.waldorf-salzburg-seminar,at

United States

Waldorf education came to the United States when the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City opened in 1927. The main growth of the movement began in the late 1960s, and the number of Waldorf schools and kindergartens increased from nine in 1967 to nearly 200 today, including kindergartens, nursery or pre-school groups, parent-child, parent-toddler and parent-infant classes, extended care and after-school programs, and child care programs in homes and centers.

Waldorf schools and kindergartens in the US do not generally receive financial support from the government. This has meant a great degree of freedom from government regulation, as well as financial and social challenges.

Working together. The Waldorf Kindergarten Association was founded in 1983; the Association changed its name in the late 1990s to the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America (WECAN). WECAN’s activities are guided by its board, composed of experienced Waldorf educators and trainers, and carried out by its mostly part-time staff, including two co-directors, an administrator, a publications coordinator, a communications coordinator, and coordinators for teacher education and membership. Twenty-one regional representatives facilitate activities within regions.

In addition to conferences and gatherings within the regions, WECAN hosts major conferences each February in Spring Valley, New York. WECAN also actively publishes Gateways, a twice-yearly newsletter, and a wide variety of books for Waldorf early childhood educators and parents. There are working groups on public policy, the child from birth to three, teacher education, digital media, and inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA).

WECAN works closely together with the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) as well as with the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education. AWSNA and WECAN work on a continental rather than a national basis, with members in the US, Canada, and Mexico. WECAN is also an active member of IASWECE.

Training. Everyone leading a group of children in a Waldorf early childhood setting is expected to have completed a Waldorf early childhood teacher education program. There are 14 early childhood teacher education programs and institutes in North America. Seven are Full Members and seven are Associate Members of WECAN. All work with the IASWECE Guidelines and WECAN Shared Principles for Waldorf early childhood teacher education. All offer part-time, low-residency training courses, often with 2-3 week intensive courses in the summer and shorter week-long or weekend courses throughout the school year, over two to three years. All offer a Waldorf certificate or diploma; one program is in partnership with a state university master’s degree. The training programs collaborate through a membership path that includes self-study and peer review through site visits.

Susan Howard is Co-Director of WECAN and a member of the IASWECE Coordinating Group

WECAN Annual Report 2023

WECAN Diversity Statement

WECAN Online Bookstore

Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America (WECAN) website

Australia and Pacific

Australasia

Czech Republic

Czech Republic, Europe

All together, there are approximately 420 children cared for by about 40 early childhood educators. There are 15 additional kindergartens working with elements of Waldorf education. And there are also several “mother centers” offer parent-child groups and advice for parents. At the moment there are 35 students enrolled in the Waldorf teacher training course.Kindergartens that are members in the Waldorf Association are located in Prague, Semily, Turnov, Pisek, Rovensko p.Troskami, České Budějovice and Brno.

Collaboration and further training. Every year in July in the little town of Semily in the north of the Czech Republic, an unusual gathering of human beings takes place:
In the town hall, instead of finding the town council, one can find a group of colorfully dressed people from all over the Czech Republic, from Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, and sometimes from western Europe, coming together to hear lectures on subjects such as the meaning of free play and the significance of educating the will in order to educate the intellect. After lectures by Wolfgang Sassmannshausen, they walk through the inner city to the Waldorf School, where practical and artistic workshops take place. And then, before the studies continue, there is a small break with folk dancing in a city park or a round of discussions in a café.

These conferences are supported not only by IASWECE, the Ernst- Michael Kranich Foundation, and the Regional Association of Waldorf Kindergartens in North-Rhine Westphalia in Germany, but also by the mayor of Semily, who provides the rooms, and a regional government school supervisor, Růženka Janatová, who has supported the development of the Czech Kindergarten Association for many years. For the past two years, a professional development course for class teachers has taken place at the same time.

The Summer Academy in Semily has been an important annual event and a source of new impulses for the work of the Waldorf kindergartens since it was founded by Johannes Schneider in the 1990’s. The Summer Academy is also the final week of training for students completing their three-year part-time early childhood teacher training. Every year five to ten young people receive their diploma here.

In 2012 a second important event was added: the “Whitsun Conference” in Sluštice, an internal meeting of Waldorf educators working in member kindergartens who come together to deepen their work under the motto, „To Find Oneself in the Spirit, is to Unite Human Beings”. At this conference last year the thought arose that every kindergarten could become a “research center” working on a particular theme for one year (Fairy tales, Music, When and where and why do make compromises? What are the essential elements of Waldorf early childhood education?) and each kindergarten could then present the results of this research at the Whitsun conference the following year.

In addition to the Whitsun Conference there were also two weekend deepening courses during the school year with Cornelis Boogerd on the theme „The Etheric Body as a Pedagogical Instrument.”

In the Czech Republic, nearly all kindergartens are run by the government. On the part of the government supervisors there is not only the kind of sympathy as described in Semily, but there are also occasional difficulties, for example, the restriction that kindergartens cannot accept every child, but only those from a specific section of the city.

Tania Smolkova, Waldorf kindergarten teacher in Prague and Waldorf Early Childhood trainer. She is member of the IASWECE Council.