Newsletter December 2025

Dear colleagues, dear friends of
the Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum,

So often we think we know everything about someone before we have even looked at them or listened to them. So often we think something must be done because we have done it ourselves so often or have seen others do it – without further consideration or attention to the context. Overcoming these two automatic responses is so important for Waldorf teachers.

At least, that is what the two articles in this newsletter invite readers to do. Jon McAlice's text is about how this can be practiced in teacher education. Philipp Reubke's article invites us to rethink pedagogical practice in light of the newly formulated “Essential Characteristics of/Guidelines for Waldorf Education.”

With best regards from the Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum
Philipp Reubke

Steiner Waldorf schools – common foundations and abundant diversity

Steiner Waldorf schools often differ considerably from one another. In some schools, there is a lot of singing, while others place great emphasis on adventure education. In one country, a Waldorf school is private and run by a collegial body, while in another, it is financed and inspected by the state.

The differences are numerous, and Rudolf Steiner himself encouraged the teachers of his time to embrace diversity in their educational practices: "It is not abstract programme principles that matter, but the realities that one faces."