24 Facts About Waldorf school

Waldorf school education, known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy.

Waldorf school education became more widely known in 1922 through lectures Steiner gave at a conference at Oxford University.

Structure of Waldorf school education follows a theory of childhood development devised by Rudolf Steiner, utilizing distinct learning strategies for each of three developmental stages or "epochs": early childhood, elementary, and secondary education.

Waldorf school pedagogues consider that readiness for learning to read depends upon increased independence of character, temperament, habits, and memory, one of the markers of which is the loss of the baby teeth.

When students in a Waldorf school are grouped, it is generally not by a focus on academic abilities.

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The Waldorf school approach is said to cultivate students with "high motivation" but "average achievement" in the sciences.

Contradictory notions found in Waldorf textbooks are distinct from factual inaccuracies occasionally found in modern public school textbooks, as the inaccuracies in the latter are of a specific and minute nature that results from the progress of science.

The inaccuracies present in Waldorf school textbooks are the result of a mode of thinking that has no valid basis in reason or logic.

The researchers found that Waldorf school students scored higher than both the public school students and the national average on the TIMSS test while scoring the same as public school students on the logical reasoning tests.

Waldorf school education aims to educate children about a wide range of religious traditions without favoring any single tradition.

Educationalist Sandra Chistolini suggests that parents offer their children Waldorf-inspired homeschooling because "the frustration and boredom some children feel in school are eliminated and replaced with constant attention to the needs of childhood [and] connections between content and the real world".

The first Waldorf-inspired high school was launched in 2008 with assistance from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In November 2012, BBC News broadcast a segment about accusations that the establishment of a state-funded Waldorf School in Frome was a misguided use of public money.

Anthroposophy, upon which Waldorf school education is founded, stands firmly against all forms of racism and nationalism.

That Waldorf school is an award-winning government-funded Waldorf school with over 650 students offering classes for kindergarten and years 1 to 11 .

Studies suggest that this is successful; Waldorf pupils have been found to be more interested in and engaged with social and moral questions and to have more positive attitudes than students from mainstream schools, demonstrating activism and self-confidence and feeling empowered to forge their own futures.

The Friends of Waldorf school Education is an organization whose purpose is to support, finance and advise the Waldorf school movement worldwide, particularly in disadvantaged settings.

Some observers have noted that Waldorf school educators tend to be more concerned to address the needs of weaker students who need support than they are to meet the needs of talented students who could benefit from advanced work.

Thomas Nielsen, assistant professor at the University of Canberra's education department, said that imaginative teaching approaches used in Waldorf school education are effective stimulators of spiritual-aesthetic, intellectual and physical development, expanding "the concept of holistic and imaginative education" and recommends these to mainstream educators.

Robert Peterkin, director of the Urban Superintendents Program at Harvard's Graduate School of Education and former Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools during a period when Milwaukee funded a public Waldorf school, considers Waldorf education a "healing education" whose underlying principles are appropriate for educating all children.

Waldorf school education has been studied as an example of educational neuroscience ideas in practice.

Professor of Education Elliot Eisner sees Waldorf education exemplifying embodied learning and fostering a more balanced educational approach than American public schools achieve.

Many elements of Waldorf pedagogy have been used in all Finnish schools for many years.

Out of 152 students at the Waldorf school, 110 had not received the Varicella vaccine that protects against chickenpox.