Anthroposophy and Anthroposophical Education

Anthroposophy comes from the Greek roots “Anthropo-”meaning “human” and “-sophy” meaning “wisdom”. Anthroposophy studies the wisdom of humanity, the nature of all living beings, and the evolution of the cosmos. Although it is not a religion,its ways of thinking and practices are highly religious. It’s not a philosophical theory either, but to fully comprehend Anthroposophy does take a highly concentrated thinking practice. 

Anthroposophy was founded by Dr. Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), an Austrian philosopher, spiritual researcher, social activist, and educator. He immersed himself deeply into the traditional wisdom of Western and Oriental cultures and with his personal observations of the spiritual world, he created Anthroposophy as a modern path to reach spirituality. Waldorf education, Biodynamic farming, Anthroposophical medicine, and Eurythmy. are just of few of the practical and artistic works based on Anthroposophy. 

Waldorf education—whose schools are also known as Steiner schools—appeared in reaction to the crisis of modern education. It includes kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools, as well as its specific and independent teacher preparation programs. In some countries, there are Waldorf or Anthroposophy colleges which offer bachelor degrees.

The first Waldorf school was established in 1919 in Stuttgart, Germany.  Its aim was to fully develop the inner freedom of human beings and help them to realize social justice. Waldorf education can be seen as a means to respond to social problems through artistic and creative pedagogy. Currently, there are over 1,000 Waldorf schools  almost 2,000 kindergartens, around 300 therapeutic education centers, and more than 60 teacher preparation institutes in over 60 countries worldwide. All these endeavors contribute to further the frontier of health care, agriculture, music, arts, philosophy and spiritual sciences.