Careers in Waldorf Education
INTERESTED IN WALDORF TEACHING?
Today’s teacher education centers offer full-time and part-time programs. Most programs lead to a Certificate in Waldorf Education while others offer the option of earning a Master’s degree (M.S. Ed.). All programs offer an integrated curriculum that provides a sound philosophical, artistic and practical foundation for Waldorf teaching.
THE ART OF BEING A WALDORF TEACHER
In the heart of a Waldorf teacher lives the commitment to help each student reach for his or her highest potential. Waldorf teacher preparation gives you a deep understanding of the whole human being as it unfolds through the critical phases of childhood—so that you can guide students on their life journey.
Equally important is the Waldorf teacher’s commitment to ongoing self-development. Waldorf teacher preparation stretches you in all directions— socially, intellectually, physically, and artistically—to push you beyond your comfort zones and help you develop the capacities needed to inspire your students.
Waldorf teaching is, above all, an art. Waldorf teacher preparation builds the capacities needed to create lively, memorable lessons in which your students are engaged and self-motivated.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME A WALDORF TEACHER?
Rudolf Steiner gave four answers to this question as he prepared the original circle of 12 teachers – six women and six men – to inaugurate the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart following the end of World War I. He said:
- The teacher must be a person of initiative in everything that is done, great or small.
- The teacher should be one who is interested in the being of the whole world and of humanity.
- The teacher must be one who never makes a compromise in heart or mind with what is untrue.
- The teacher must never get stale or grow sour.
Some of these qualities can only indwell; they cannot be taught, though surely they can be enhanced by a lifetime of practice. Others, however, can be educated – literally “drawn forth”.
AWSNA-member teacher-training institutes engage students in a disciplined course of study and teacher preparation grounded in anthroposophy. All institutes undertake self-study and peer review as part of a rigorous path to membership.
