Waldorf Education:  Excellence for the 21st Century

Waldorf Education has its roots in the research of the Austrian scientist and thinker Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), who is also the father of biodynamic farming and organic architecture. According to Steiner’s philosophy, the human being is a threefold being of spirit, soul, and body whose capacities unfold in three developmental stages on the path to adulthood: early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence.

In April of 1919, the first Waldorf School was founded in Stuttgart, Germany. Ninety years later over a thousand Waldorf schools have been opened in sixty countries across the globe. Waldorf education is the fastest-growing independent educational movement in the world today. Why?

• Waldorf education respects the natural stages of childhood.
  
• Waldorf teachers strive to educate the whole child – the heart, the hands as well as the head.
• Waldorf education is creative, experiential and artistic.
  
• Waldorf Schools are committed to developing capacities as well as skills so that their students will become self-aware, compassionate individuals with a sense of responsibility for the earth and the greater community.
• Waldorf education generates a joy for learning that lasts a lifetime.
• Waldorf students go on to study at the world’s finest colleges and universities.

A recent study of Waldorf graduates found the following:

• 94% attended college or university
• 47% chose humanities or arts as a major
• 42% chose sciences or math as a major
• 89% are highly satisfied in choice of occupation
• 91% are active in lifelong education
• 92% placed a high value on critical thinking
• 90% highly value tolerance of other viewpoints

The video below 'Why Waldorf?' from the Marin Waldorf School in California gives a great overview of what a Waldorf School environment is like and why it is the educational approach of the future!

This video is kindly shared with permission from the Marin Waldorf School.
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Some of our school community's favorite articles and books on Waldorf education
and related topics are here.