Waldorf education ...
... places the child at the centre of all educative efforts. It enquires into the gifts and potential available in each child, and tries to nurture and develop these. It tries to help the child unfold his or her full potential, to care for children in the community context in which they grow up, and to prepare them for the tasks facing them in the modern age.
Committees for international cooperation
The Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum
The Pedagogical Section has a mission of educational research and development of anthroposophy-inspired pedagogy. New impulses of education from this source are a great concern in order to assist the teachers in their daily work. This task is accomplished in dialogue with the Waldorf and Rudolf Steiner schools and their governing bodies worldwide.
The Hague Circle - International Conference of Waldorf/Steiner Education
It mainly focuses on extending the global education movement; the Hague Circle is thereby closely connected with the Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum/Dornach. Furthermore it bears responsibility for world teacher conferences and the world school list.
European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education (ECSWE)
As the council of national school movements, the ECSWE is focusing on EU policy and the general European exchange of experience. National Waldorf School Associations are corporate members.
Internationale Assoziation Osteuropa (IAO)
The IAO mainly focuses on the training of Waldorf teachers, which takes place in a multi-year training cycle. In addition, the IAO employees advise the currently working Waldorf teachers with the planning of their lessons, the development of curricula and the setting up of self-management in schools.
International Association for Steiner/Waldorf Early Childhood Education (IASWECE)
The goals are to foster co-operation among colleagues throughout the world, through meetings, conferences, working groups, deepen and renew the work with the young child out of the sources of Waldorf education, and support for its quality. And IASWECE fosters training and continuing development opportunities for caregivers, kindergarten teachers and educators.
European Forum for Freedom in Education (EFFE)
The European Forum for Freedom in Education (effe) is an NGO in the field of education. It sees the organisation as a forum in which all current issues concerning education at primary and secondary level can be discussed. The members are interested and active citizens from the educational sector.
European Council of National Associations of Independent Schools (ECNAIS)
ECNAIS supports and pursues the values embedded in a democratic approach to pluralism in the national educational systems, and the respect of the parental choice. It promotes the interests of all kinds of Independent education, confessional and lay, whose principles conform to those set out in the Universal Declaration of Human rights. It develops political statements that promote the understanding of the values of the independent sector, and improve their acceptance and financial support in national legislation.