Anthroposophy & Waldorf Education
Waldorf school in Germany
Classroom in a Waldorf school
Waldorf education (also known as Steiner or Steiner-Waldorf education) is a pedagogy based upon the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Learning is interdisciplinary, integrates practical, artistic, and intellectual elements, and is coordinated with "natural rhythms of everyday life".The Waldorf approach emphasizes the role of the imagination in learning,developing thinking that includes a creative as well as an analytic component. Studies of the education describe its overarching goal as providing young people the basis on which to develop into free, moral and integrated individuals, and to help every child fulfill his or her unique destiny (the existence of which anthroposophy posits). Schools and teachers are given considerable freedom to define curricula within collegial structures.
The first Waldorf school was founded in 1919; there are now about 1000 independent Waldorf schools and 1400 independent Waldorf kindergarten located in approximately sixty countries throughout the world, making up one of the world's largest independent educational systems; there are also Waldorf-based public and charter schools, homeschooling environments, and schools for special education. Waldorf methods have also been adopted by numerous educators teaching in other state and private schools.
Toy making out of Anthroposophy and the Waldorf approach allows designing toys which suit children’s age and real developmental needs, while being aware of how they affect the growing child.
|
my cart
