Graduate programs in special education

Waldorf education (also called Steiner education) is a worldwide movement based on an educational philosophy first formulated by Austrian Rudolf Steiner and which grew out of his spiritual science, Anthroposophy. Waldorf education aims to educate the "whole child" by maintaining a balance between physical activity, artistic creativity and academic work against a backdrop of well-defined stages in child development, which is seen as a process of incarnation of the child's soul. [1] Its curriculum focuses on the arts, social skills, spiritual values as well as practical and integrated learning. The typical Waldorf school is described as the school of the head, heart and hands. [2]

Waldorf education is practiced in Waldorf schools, homeschools, and special education environments. Special Education & Rehabilitation Department. There are now close to 1000 established Waldorf schools located in about sixty different countries throughout the world, as well as many younger initiatives. [3]

Description

Waldorf education is founded on the work of Rudolf Steiner, as extended by the research and work of many teachers and pedagogues since Steiner's time. [4] Waldorf schools employ a curriculum that focuses on the developmental stages of childhood. In general, there are three larger phases: early childhood, when learning is experiential and sensory; the middle, elementary school years, when learning is imaginative and aided by creative, and especially by artistic activity; and adolescence, when learning can be supported by abstractions and intellectual rigor.