War, Ruins, & Traumata EMERGENCY PEDAGOGY – MORE THAN METHODSIn 2017 the emergency pedagogy annual conference will once again take place in Karlsruhe. From June 9th till 11th of this year, we will focus on the topic of “man made disasters”.Wars, violence, and natural disasters threaten many—but especially [...] more

While last fall we went looking for stories about finding the courage to make a new start, transformation is the recurring theme of this issue of our newsletter. Taiwan’s Waldorf movement for example, is trying to transform its organization towards a more structured and supporting body. In this manner, [...] more

Since the inauguration of the first Waldorf School in September 1919 a lot has happened. By now, there are 1.100 Waldorf Schools and more than 2000 Waldorf Kindergartens in 80 countries. This is a good reason to celebrate the upcoming Jubilee with a fabulous party – and this should be well prepared. Under the heading of “Waldorf 100,” numerous and community building projects are starting now.
Moreover, a wonderful movie has been made, which is now available in seven different languages. Click here to watch the movie

In 1999 the Waldorf school El Til·ler was founded in Bellaterra near Barcelona – and the school wants to expand. But it has long since reached the limits of its current location. At the end of April, the school community successfully purchased some premises close by. In January 2016, the school [...] more

The Ecuadorean capital of Quito with its indigenous, colonial, and modern elements lies almost at the equator, in the northern Andean highland, which narrowly meanders from north to south. The city extends over 30 kilometers along the highland. It is situated at an altitude of 2.850 meters. It has been [...] more

We are delighted to publish for the second time today an overall list that includes all Waldorf- and Steiner Schools, Kindergartens and Teacher-Training Centers for Waldorf educators and Waldorf teachers around the world. We have uploaded the extended and updated list on our website. If you would like to [...] more

For a few years now, children have been attending the Waldorf kindergarten situated in a very old, majestic Arabic manor house near the sea. To their great surprise, the children discover many different activities previously unknown to them. For example, painting in watercolors. What a wonderful [...] more

Although one can now barely see the physical damages of the devastating earthquake, which struck Nepal in 2015, many children are just as before heavily traumatised. Helping these children is a priority of the upcoming mission. From February 18th to March 4th, a team consisting of 9 experienced pedagogues [...] more

Being a Waldorf teacher in Italy is, in most cases, a painstaking task. They are passionate about their job, they connect with wonderful, open-minded children, but they barely earn enough to make a living. There are no government subsidies, and a suitable school building is unaffordable. Read about [...] more

2016 saw the expansion of our long-term project in Northern Iraq in cooperation with the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ). From January 20th to February 3rd, a team from emergency pedagogy will once again travel to the region of Dohuk. Pedagogues are now trauma-pedagogically active in [...] more

In October last year, a major hurricane devastated the small island state of Haiti. The southern part of this already poverty-stricken country was particularly affected. It is in this region, close to the seaport Les Cayes, where the little Waldorf School is located. The gale-force winds and the heavy [...] more

In the past year, Italy was shaken by multiple, strong earthquakes. There is still enough energy in the rock, so that more are predicted to follow.Because the region could be evacuated in time in October, there were luckily no deaths due to this earthquake. But most of the residents lost their homes and [...] more

About fifteen years ago Waldorf education came to Patagonia. There are, of course, beautiful landscapes in Patagonia, magnificent high wooded mountains and large lakes, glaciers all the way to the south, but also oil towns like Neuquen, which have no aesthetic appeal at all. In this town, a doctor [...] more

The Daycare Center for Social Therapy takes care of people with special needs in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.  More than 50 people come to the Center every day to learn, to receive therapeutic support, and to work, which makes them very proud and would not be possible anywhere else. After 26 years of work, the future of the Daycare Center is uncertain, because at the moment the center is lacking sufficient funds. Up until now, the social therapy project was funded mainly by larger donors such as CORDAID or Bread for the World. But these organizations recently changed their aid programs and have transferred their funding priorities to other regions. Yet, in Georgia there are no welfare projects to support those affected and which would help an organization such as the Daycare Center to survive. The small amounts of money parents can afford to pay or the proceeds gained from selling self-made products are simply not enough. In this emergency situation the people of the community kindly ask you to support the Daycare Center so that they can continue their work through next year.

On December 3rd, 2016 a team from the emergency pedagogy department travelled to the Philippines to visit the project there for the sixth time. This mission will be the last one in Tacloban and represents the conclusion of the project, which began after the devastating typhoon Haiyan. Meanwhile, there are [...] more

It is a brief moment of concentrated silence. Then the teacher gives a sign and the students begin to  eagerly stroke their bows over the strings and devotedly make their new instruments sound. For a long time, it was a great wish of the Kraków Waldorf School to build up a real orchestra, but they simply [...] more

On Friday, November 4th, 2016 another mission team from the Friends of Waldorf Education set off.This is the eleventh time the emergency pedagogues are traveling to Northern Iraq, to further train local colleagues and to support children and adolescents.For two weeks, they will help affected persons to [...] more

Waldorf School needs a new roof In 1997, the Sashalmi Waldorf School was founded in Budapest's Rakosmenti district and in 2003 moved into a one-hundred-year-old primary school building in the 16th district. Today the students from Class 1 through 8 frequent this building on a daily basis. Like in many [...] more

The drive from Barcelona to the interior of the country takes about an hour until one reaches the city of Vic in northern Catalonia. Since 2008 the initiative "La Font" (the fountain) works here. It began as a playgroup and soon developed into a kindergarten and school through intense parenting work.  [...] more

This year's autumn newsletter entitled "Pioneers Worldwide" is now online and can be downloaded as a PDF file. In this edition you can read stories about the courage to begin. For example, from Myanmar, which slowly awakens from the rigidity of the past military regime. Or from Greece, where parents are [...] more

A team from the emergency pedagogy department will travel to Gaza on Sunday for a crisis intervention. The aid workers were already in the crisis struck region for multiple missions, this is the tenth.For many years now, the conflicts in the Gaza-Strip have rarely calmed down; the residents are subject to [...] more

The Waldorf school "Ecole du village" (in English "village school") in southern Haiti was destroyed by Hurricane "Matthew" in the first week of October 2016. The friends of Waldorf Education are currently asking for donations to rebuild the school. Here we show some of the first pictures that we received [...] more

After the severe hurricane "Matthew", the Friends of Waldorf Education are planing an emergency pedagogy crisis intervention in Haiti for the end of October. The intervention should help traumatised children and adolescents in processing their experiences of the catastrophe. continue  [...] more

In October and November Bernd Ruf will once again travel to South America to offer more continuing education courses. First he will stop in Columbia and Brazil from October 7th to 17th. In November five days in Chile follow. more more

In the north-west of India, in the middle of the Tahar desert in the state of Rajasthan, lies the small village of Darbari. This is where the Bhil people live, one of the largest of the approximately 420 indigenous tribes of India. Many of their children live in extreme poverty, are under-nourished and [...] more