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.

Vietnam

Since the year 2000 there has been a Steiner-inspired kindergarten in Vietnam within an orphanage, where the children are cared for from birth through adulthood. There are two more initiatives in other districts and newly opened or about-to-open kindergartens in Hanoi, Nha Trang, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City. There is also a new Steiner-based kindergarten in the Camphill community in Hue.

History. Vietnam has a long history of war and poverty. The wish to help the victims of these circumstances, who are the orphans living in Dieu Giac orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, first drew a group of Waldorf teachers and parents in Australia to form the Vietnam Children’s Project (VCP) in 1999. It was VCP who founded the three kindergartens. Also under the VCP’s guidance, two three-year part-time early childhood teacher training courses have started in Vietnam.

Early Childhood Training. For a number of years the Vietnamese Steiner-inspired kindergartens functioned under the guidance of Thanh Cherry, who founded the VCP and initiated the 3 kindergartens. They also received sporadic mentoring from other experienced international Waldorf teachers. In 2012 the formal teacher training project began with a group of 12 already practicing teachers. Over the next 3 years many international tutors gave generously of their time and expertise to come to Vietnam, and the group graduated in April 2015. A public ceremony was held in Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate this landmark event and with the publicity from media coverage a new wave of interest in Steiner/Waldorf education was sparked, with requests for another 3-year training course.

Currently there are two early childhood teacher training courses in Vietnam – one in Ho Chi Minh City with 28 students and one in Hanoi with 15 students. Both trainings will be delivered in 6 modules over 3 years and we are thankful to have support from IASWECE, IHF and the “FREUNDE” for the training program.

These two new courses provide basic training for Steiner early childhood teachers who wish to work in the expanding Tho Trang kindergarten in Ho Chi Minh City and also in the above mentioned new initiatives.

Primary education. Tho Trang kindergarten started its first Class 1 in September 2015 and a Primary Teacher training course was organized in January 2016 with 22 students. Tho Trang now needs larger premises to accommodate the planned 4 nursery classes, 4 kindergartens and all primary grades from 1-6. This new development will satisfy the great need in Vietnam for future generations of young children and, being the first Steiner/Waldorf School and Kindergarten in the country, it will undoubtedly depend very much on the generous support of sponsors and friendly Waldorf organizations over the world.

Birth to three. This year we are organizing seminars specially for the childcare facilities caring for children from 6 months to three years old. Currently in Ho Chi Minh City, Tho Trang School has a nursery class with children from 18 months to 3 years; Warm Nest Children’s Home will have a class for a similar age group. In the north, Hanoi Kindergarten runs a nursery class for 1- to 3-year olds; Hanoi Lucita Kindergarten has 2 similar classes.

Burning issues

The need to meet stringent government requirements regarding curriculum and environment.
We need to meet strict hygiene issues in cases of dangerous children’s afflictions such as foot and mouth disease. In some areas, almost every year there will be a breakout of this deadly illness and each time the toys need to be boiled and disinfected. The challenge is how we can provide suitable toys that will not be destroyed by this process.
Many mainstream established preschools or educators would like to convert their premises into Steiner kindergartens but have little training or knowledge of the educational principles. The challenge of regulating the use of the Steiner/Waldorf trademark will be a big issue.
There is a lack of local qualified mentors and the expense required to invite an international mentor is great.
In under-developed countries such as Vietnam, the lack of financial resources greatly hampers the development of Steiner/Waldorf education.
There is a need for more sponsorship and funding for the ongoing initiatives and new projects in the country.

-Thanh Cherry, chairperson of VCP, and Shirley Bell, core member of VCP, are from Australia and active in Vietnam and China.

India

There are 30 Waldorf kindergartens in India. Some are well-established and a few are very new developing initiatives. India is a large country and all these kindergartens are spread all over the country. The first two Waldorf schools started almost simultaneously in Hyderabad and Mumbai in the late 1990’s. Slowly the movement spread and now we have 30 kindergartens and few more inspired ones.

Schools and kindergartens emerge and run on private funding only. Early childhood education laws almost non-existent in India, so there is lot freedom and parents have a choice to opt for Waldorf kindergarten. But on the other hand there is no support or recognition from the government. All kindergartens take care of children from age 3 to 6, and most of the Waldorf kindergartens also have playgroups for children from 2 to 3.Many Waldorf kindergartens also have a day care facility as a demand of the time.

Training Sadhana , our Kindergarten association came into existance ie in 2014 The training for early childhood eductors has been well organised .We are following the guidelines for training given by IASWECE. The six day training in April and National kindergarten conference in December , these two programs have been helping consistently to the new initiatives and teachers and to deepen their understandiing for last four years.Both the events are well attended by all the member kindergartens.Besides these there are also two part-time teacher training courses in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai and two in Bangaluru are the 200 hundred hours foundation courses are completely focussed on basic kindergarten teacher training for those who wish to work with the Waldorf impulse.We are hopeful and working towards the challenge to have a full-time course.

Ms Clara Arts has been instrumental in laying the strong foundation and helping us work towards the futuristic goals through the country association Sadhana.

We also have training of the trainers program every year through Sadhana .Initially we had five and six trainers and now the group is of 12 trainers.

Trainers from other countries are also sometimes invited by individual school to offer specific training and mentoring or sometimes this is open for all. In some new initiatives mentors stay for six months or more and impart training and look after the new initiative until it can function on its own.

Working together. In 2014, an association of Waldorf early childhood teachers called “Sadhana”was founded. Among the tasks it has undertaken are organizing regional and national conferences, supporting new initiatives, and coordinating the mentoring and development of the training.

Our challenges:
1) Reaching out to parents and spreading awareness. Parents want a change in the early childhood education but lack awareness. Orientation is much needed. Some parents attend a workshop or seminar on Waldorf education somewhere and then search for kindergartens.
2) Waldorf kindergartens have increased in number in many urban cities.
3) 50 percent parents agree with the fact that reading and writing need not be achieved in a hurry.
4) Parents have a concern for the continuity in this philosophy as there are very few Waldorf Grade schools.
5) It is still difficult to find a kindergarten teacher since the country is vast.
6)The schools have tried their best to adapt the curriculum for India by bringing in culture and local songs and customs wherever applicable.
7) Retaining trained teachers with the same school is difficult. Teachers get trained , work for two or three years, and then leave the school for various reasons.

8) There are more Waldorf kindergartens in big cities as people feel the need for this stressfree and safe , warm environment for their little children but finding a suitable place which is desired to make such aesthetically pleasing place is becoming increasingly difficult.

Looking back. The Waldorf movement in India is approximately 18 years old. In the beginning , the kindergarten teachers got on-the-job training by Miriam Haenen and Tina Brusma. Both mentors visited India for training for six years. Eventually , more international trainers started coming to India and Indian teachers also started to attend conferences and seminars both in and outside of the country.

Sucheta Garud is a former Waldorf kindergarten teacher. She is a member of the Board of Sadhana and an IASWECE Council member. Website of Sadhana: http://www.siwka.org/

China

Russia

In Russia there are approximately 115 Waldorf kindergarten groups in several regions – the European region, Ural, Siberia, and Baikal. Most of these are independent, but a small number are in government kindergartens. There are also kindergarten groups attached to Waldorf schools.

Children from age 3 – 7 attend kindergarten in Russia. For children from 18 months to three years old, there are part-time programs. Children can attend kindergarten up to the age of 8 in Russia.
In the past year the „Berjezka“ Waldorf kindergarten program received government recognition because it meets the new educational standards. Private kindergartens are financed by parents.

Training. We began our Waldorf early childhood training in 1991 when we founded the “Waldorf Center for Preschool Education”. The first students graduated in 1993 when 42 people became Waldorf early childhood educators. Since that time, the number of students has increased every year and today there are 337 people who have completed this training.

Students attending the training come from Moscow as well as other parts of Russia. Graduates of the training program have founded approximately 89 Waldorf kindergarten groups – in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Smolensk, Samara, Cheboksary, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Ryazan, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Tomsk, Voronezh, Ufa, Krasnoyarsk, Vyatka, Irkutsk, Saratov, Sochi, Kostroma, and Tula. Graduates also include Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Armenians, and White Russians, who have founded Waldorf kindergartens in Kiev, Ukraine; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Yerevan, Armenia.

The training lasts three years. In the course of the first two years, the students come three times a year for 3 weeks each time. During the third year they prepare a final project and come three times for a one-week colloquium. There are also professional development courses offered for active Waldorf early childhood educators. Courses for parents and introductory courses, as well as public lectures and workshops are also offered.

Working together. In 1995 the “Association of Waldorf Early Childhood Educators” was founded. Every year in November, Waldorf early childhood educators from all over Russia come together to attend a conference which takes place in a different Russian city each year. In addition, Waldorf early childhood educators have developed a curriculum program for Waldorf kindergartens in Russia and discuss methodological questions together.

Current issues. Early intellectual development and academics are currently very popular among young parents. How can we find an appropriate response to this? How can we work with young children who are already very strongly influenced by the consumer culture and constantly bring in new gadgets to show others? How can we compensate for the chronic lack of movement in children’s lives?

Birth to Three. Part-time groups for children from 18 months to three years have been very popular in recent years. In November 2015 a professional development course on working with groups of young children from birth to three took place, led by Claudia Grah-Wittich and Marie-Luise Compani from Germany. At present there are 7 groups for children from birth to three.

Looking back. The first Waldorf kindergarten group opened in 1988 in Moscow. Since the early 1990’s Waldorf kindergarten groups have been founded in all of Russia. The first Waldorf groups were founded in 1992 in Moscow, Zelenograd, Zhukovsky, Ryazan, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Tyumen, Tomsk, Kirov, Ufa, Vladimir, Samara, Smolensk, Irkutsk and Voronezh. Today in Russian there are 22 Waldorf schools with more than 5000 children.

Svetlana Efremova and Elena Gramotkina teach at the Waldorf early childhood training seminar in Moscow and are members of the IASWECE Council.

Seminar for Waldorf Early Childhood Education Moscow

Estonia

In Estonia there are eight Waldorf kindergartens – very significant in a country with only 1.3 million inhabitants and just 25 years of existence!

Looking back. On September 1, 1990 – at that time, Estonia was still part of the Soviet Union – children in five different locations were able to attend a Waldorf school. Only a short time later, the first Waldorf kindergartens opened.

Training. For several years now it has been possible for early childhood educators with a government training to do a continuing education course for Waldorf education at the University of Tartu. Three cohorts of 50 students each have now completed these courses, supported by IASWECE each time. The tutors included Waldorf early childhood educators from Estonia, Germany, Sweden and France.

Working together. The Waldorf kindergartens are members of the Estonian Waldorf Kindergarten Association and meet twice each year for professional development. In 2015 this professional development course was also supported by IASWECE.

-Kristina Rosin, Waldorf kindergarten teacher in Tallinn, Estonia, and a member of the IASWECE Council

Website of the Waldorf Association in Estonia

Romania

In Romania there are currently 57 Waldorf kindergarten groups, where 1433 children are cared for by 105 Waldorf early childhood educators (as of October 2015).

Waldorf kindergartens and schools in Romania are part of the state educational system. Waldorf Education is recognized by the Ministry of Education as a form of alternative education ,through an agreement signed in 1996 which expected that Waldorf educators and teachers would be able to teach the state curriculum. Waldorf kindergarten groups are often part of larger institutions in which not all groups practice Waldorf education. There are also two independent Waldorf kindergartens.

Parents whose children attend Waldorf kindergartens and schools have formed non-profit organizations in many places in order to support the activity of the Waldorf classes and to organize cultural programs in support of Waldorf education.

Working together. Waldorf early childhood educators have formed an “Association of Waldorf Early Childhood Educators in Romania” (AEWR) with its legal seat in Cluj. AEWR organizes conferences and professional development courses as well as mentoring for those new to the work. AEWR is a member of the “Waldorf Federation of Romania” which coordinates all the Waldorf programs (schools, curative education institutions and kindergartens). AEWR is a member of IASWECE.

Training. Since the end of the 1990’s, there has been a Waldorf training course in Romania. For the three-year part-time training, students travel to Cluj five weeks each year for intensive courses (one week in spring, three in summer and one in fall). Every year 20 – 30 students complete their training as Waldorf early childhood educators. Today the courses are mostly taught by Romanian teaching faculty; each year one or two tutors from other countries offer a course. IASWECE has supported the training and the annual kindergarten conference in Romania for many years. Since 2015 there has also been a training course in Bucharest, also supported by IASWECE.

A special characteristic of Romania. There is great cultural diversity in this land of nearly twenty million inhabitants (Bucharest, the capital city has two million inhabitants). The national language is Romanian, and in some regions Hungarian is also spoken. However, many people also speak French, German, or English. (Bucharest is called “Little Paris” and Timisoara is called “Little Vienna”.) As in many other countries, the professions of teacher and early childhood educator are not sufficiently recognized socially or financially. .

Angela Dana is a Waldorf educator in Timisoara, a member of the board of AEWR and a member of the IASWECE Council.

Lithuania

In Lithuania twenty programs offer Waldorf education to preschool children. More than half are within government kindergartens and financed by the state; the others are independent initiatives, carried by associations.

The structure and organization of these programs is quite diverse: there are large government Waldorf kindergartens, there are Waldorf groups in government kindergartens that have been working for ten or even almost twenty years, and there are independent kindergartens with a lot of experience and very new initiatives that want to become Waldorf kindergartens. And finally there are programs that have taken on only a few elements of Waldorf pedagogy into their educational practice.

Waldorf education is officially recognized as a form of alternative education. This creates the legal background for realizing the ideas of Waldorf education and making it available in Lithuania.

All kindergartens in Lithuania are open all day. There are normally about 20 children in a group with two to three educators who care for them throughout the whole day. There are very few foreigners in Lithuania, so naturally children grow up in a climate of traditional culture. Children must go to school in the calendar year when they turn seven.

Finances. State kindergarten programs receive 100% of their support from the government. In independent kindergartens 30% of the necessary expenses for each child are reimbursed by the state and the parents pay the rest. Sometimes there is some support from the municipality. What this means is that there is always an abundant lack of funds in the private kindergartens.

Looking back and ahead into the future. The ideas of Waldorf education began to be known at the beginning of the 1990’s when Lithuania became independent. In recent years Waldorf education is becoming more and more popular and beloved. New kindergartens and schools are being founded. There are parent courses and public events. But few books about Waldorf education have been published in Lithuanian; there are still no eurythmists and no anthroposophical doctors. Thus one can say that Waldorf education is still in its pioneer phase. There is still a lot to do and there are not enough people to do everything.

Working together. The Waldorf impulse developed here in a very particular way, with great freedom for personal initiative. We have founded an association where membership is open not only to established Waldorf kindergartens but also to initiatives that hope to come into being one day. We have set ourselves the following tasks: to support the quality of Waldorf education in Lithuania, to organize training and professional development courses, to collaborate with individuals and institutions in Lithuania and in other countries in order to strengthen and intensify the work, and to be active advocates for healthy childhood.

Training. At the moment this is the main task of our association, as the quality of Waldorf education is dependent on the training of our educators. A (part-time) training course took place in February 2016 with nearly 40 students enrolled. After two-and-a-half years the students completed their training. In October 2020 a second preschool teacher course started. This will last 3.5 year (2020-2024).

Rasa Ragauskaitė Driukienė is a Waldorf early childhood educator in Vilnius and represents Lithuania in the IASWECE Council.

Website for the Association for Waldorf Education in Lithuania

East Africa

In 1990, the first Waldorf School started in Nairobi, Kenya. Since then Waldorf Education has expanded in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the three countries that form the East African Community.

Waldorf kindergarten education has been growing all this time, to the point now where there are four well established kindergartens and a large number of initiatives in the three countries. At the conference the first 13 kindergarten teachers received their diplomas, a very special moment in the lives of these teachers. Another 21 teachers, who have completed their modules, are eagerly awaiting being mentored in their classrooms, a task that needs urgent addressing. Then, there will follow another 28 teachers currently in training, and the numbers keep growing!

Training. The kindergarten training is part of a larger program that also trains primary school teachers for the schools in East Africa. Ann Sharfman (kindergarten) and Peter van Alphen (primary) from Cape Town, South Africa have been running these program’s for for many years at the Rudolf Steiner School in Nairobi. The purpose has been to lay a strong foundation for East African Waldorf Education by providing East African teachers with an ongoing development program. Schools, in the past, relied heavily on teachers from Europe and elsewhere. The disadvantage was that most could only stay for short periods and their input could not be sustained.

The training work has been a source of rich and deep experiences, both for students and trainers. East African individuals find a profound resonance in Waldorf Education with who they are, within their culture and particular environment. The intensity of discussion that follows the study of the principles of Waldorf Education is high among the students, and is inevitably followed by a host of questions and further interchange. It demonstrates how truly universal the principles of Waldorf education are, and how they are able to touch people from different parts of the world, each finding their unique way of expressing them in the service of the children in their care. As mentioned above, with the increasing numbers of kindergarten teachers in training, comes an increasing need for mentorship to guide them in applying what they have gained during the modules. Guiding and mentoring teachers in the classroom is a vital part of the training process.

There are three established schools with kindergartens in East Africa, that are a support to the many initiatives whose teachers are in training and are striving to develop Waldorf schools. The Rudolf Steiner School, Mbagathi, Nairobi was established first. This school caters for poorer children who live in the vicinity of the school, on the Maasai plains and the nearby town of Rongai. Most of these children are being sponsored by well-wishers from many different parts of the world. The school has a boarding house to house orphans and children from slum homes or rural areas. In their kindergartens and playgroup there are two teachers who qualified on the training program, and one who has completed the ten modules but is waiting to be mentored before she can qualify.

The Nairobi Waldorf School runs its own kindergarten as well as the Kileleshwa Kindergarten in another suburb of Nairobi. This school, like the Hekima Waldorf School in Dar es Salaam, caters for middle class families. Numbers of Ugandan teachers have attended the training program from the start, but due to various difficulties, they have not received the mentoring that follows the completion of the modules offered in Nairobi. It is hoped that the mentorship program can be extended to include Uganda soon, following a visit to establish the needs of each school’s situation.

It has become possible for Ann and Peter to spend a great deal more time in East Africa, in order to regularly mentor and guide teachers in the schools and initiative schools in the region. This aspect of the work is vitally important for the teachers who strive for excellence in their teaching. However, the necessary funding still needs to be found to carry out this work to the full.

A strong, vibrant community of East African teachers is emerging, promising an empowered and fulfilling future for the children in their care. Ultimately, every East African teacher’s wish, which has been expressed again and again, is to bring this opportunity to every child in their respective countries.

Ann Sharfman is Waldorf kindergarten teacher and an internal active trainer

South Africa

There are 17 Waldorf schools in South Africa, and connected to these are approximately 50 Waldorf early childhood settings – toddler groups (2 to 3s), playgroups (3 to 4s) and kindergartens (4 to 6s). Some of the Waldorf schools are currently involved in initiating birth to three groups. More and more early childhood centers that are already established in the townships (catering for birth to school-going age) are keen to participate in the Waldorf movement. This is realized through teacher training, mentoring, and sharing-gatherings held each term.

Training. Tertiary training for Waldorf teachers takes place at the Centre for Creative Education (CFCE), situated in Cape Town. The CFCE has acquired state accreditation and offers a level 4 and level 5 certificate in early childhood development, a Bachelor of Arts (Dance) in Eurythmy and a Bachelor of Education in primary school teaching. The early childhood training primarily serves teachers in the townships. About 20 early childhood teachers receive certificates each year. The CFCE also offers a Birth to Three course with modular training, workshops and mentoring for those who work with this age group in underprivileged settings. The CFCE receives much-needed funding from local and international supporters. IASWECE is one of the funders that generously sponsors aspects of the training.

There is an urgent need for trained teachers to carry out the mentoring, and a corresponding need for funding.

Looking back and perspectives for the future. The South African Waldorf school movement is at an interesting point in its development. The two founding Waldorf schools have been going for 56 years now, which means the last of the pioneers are moving on and leaving the following generations of teachers to uphold the movement. An increasing number of new teachers are drawn to Waldorf education. One could say that the Waldorf movement is in a phase of consolidation. Educators are striving to bring together the wisdom of the pioneer teachers and merge it with what is calling from the present, forging the movement into one of strength that can work effectively within this country.

Working together. Unlike most countries, we do not have an association specifically for early childhood. Instead, the South African Federation of Waldorf Schools is responsible for all Waldorf education. The Federation Council is urgently addressing the burning issue of state centralisation. By liaising with the various education departments, the right of Waldorf schools to independence has so far been maintained. It is an ongoing fight for the very life of our Waldorf schools, especially in the face of increasingly prescriptive policies for the early years, such as the imposition of an early childhood development curriculum.

Burning questions. The general picture throughout the country is of an ever-widening socio-economic divide, and some of our Waldorf schools operate in very restricted circumstances. It is uncertain whether they would manage without the generous sponsorship that is received from both international and local benefactors.

Violence, including domestic violence, is on the rise and impacts on our schools and children. Waldorf schools provide a haven of tranquility and healing for the abused child, but it is now becoming necessary to employ one or more family counsellors to augment the work of the teachers. The need for remedial therapists, particularly in the early years, is also being felt. Crime is rife; schools cope with vandalism and theft as best they can – from fencing and security guards where affordable, to burglar bars, security gates, and even parents taking turns to sleep over and guard the property.

There are so many challenges in South Africa: it is a blessing that we have a vibrant, positive and growing Waldorf movement to face them. Through ongoing striving, working together and offering a helping hand – many things are possible…

Mary-G. Häuptle, Waldorf kindergarten teacher, trainer and mentor at the CFCE in Cape Town and an IASWECE Council member

Website of the South African Federation of Waldorf Schools
Centre for Creative Education (Training Center)