Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist who founded Anthroposophy, a spiritual philosophy, and the Waldorf education movement. He established the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart, Germany in 1919 for the children of workers at the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory. Steiner's educational philosophy is rooted in his understanding of human development as unfolding in seven-year phases, each requiring a different educational approach. Today there are over 1,200 Waldorf schools and 2,000 Waldorf early childhood programs in 75 countries.

Key Ideas

→Human development unfolds in seven-year phases, each requiring a distinct educational approach

→Education should cultivate the whole human being: thinking, feeling, and willing

→Arts integration is essential to all learning — not a supplement to academics

→Children need protection from intellectual demands until the change of teeth (around age 7)

→The teacher's relationship with the class is sacred and forms the emotional foundation of learning