Waldorf Elementary Teacher Education

When: 07/05/2026 - 07/24/2026 Eastern Time

Where: Chestnut Ridge, NY

Sponsoring Organization: Sunbridge Institute

Sunbridge Institute’s low-residency Waldorf Elementary Teacher Education program provides nationally-recognized credentials and practical, artistic, and philosophical foundations for successful Waldorf teaching in grades one through eight classrooms. Graduates are conferred a diploma in Waldorf Teacher Education.

Combining in-person coursework with synchronous online instruction, the program is divided into three-week terms of on-campus study for each of three summers, supported by five online weekend (Friday evening-Saturday) sessions that take place during each of the two interim academic years, for a total of nine weeks of in-person classes and ten online weekend sessions.

Program directors are Rebecca Nelson, MA, MSEd ’07 and Justin Trombly.

The foundational goal of Sunbridge’s Elementary Teacher Education program is to help guide each new teacher in their development as a person and an educator. We strive to develop capacities that give you the means to teach out of yourself and, in turn, help you to develop the unique capacities of your own students.

In addition to coursework, advising/mentoring support, and fieldwork, we offer our students and graduates additional opportunities to further develop and hone their teaching expertise and acquire new insights and skills. These opportunities include:

Highly-reduced discounts to our professional development courses and workshops while you are a student in our program, plus lesser discounts once you graduate
Free course material for our Summer Series “Approaching the Grades” courses you may be unable to attend because of scheduling conflicts with your Sunbridge summer sessions
Free auditing of Elementary program classes once you have graduated
The opportunity to be awarded 12 credits toward a fully-accredited master of education or master of arts in liberal studies degree with self-designed concentration in Waldorf education through the Sunbridge/SUNY Empire State University partnership.

A full member of AWSNA and WECAN and in service to the Waldorf movement since 1967, Sunbridge Institute is located on the campus of the historic Threefold Educational Foundation in New York’s Hudson Valley.

First-year, Completion Track (for highly qualified candidates), and transfer applications are now being accepted for July 2026 entrance. Regular application deadline is June 1. Financial aid, including our Diversity Fund Scholarships, is available.

Please visit our website or contact our admissions coordinator at info@sunbridge.edu / 845-425-0055 x20 for more information.

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