A Global Education

Waldorf education is a global educational movement, with over 1,000 schools on six continents, and in over 60 countries, worldwide. Each school is autonomous and independently run, yet linked by a common educational philosophy and curriculum.

Waldorf education grows out of the work of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), an Austrian scientist, philosopher, architect, and educator who founded the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart, Germany in 1919. Through a developmentally based pedagogy, Steiner intended to cultivate young peoples' independent thinking and imagination, empathy for others, and also to develop their strength of will, so they would rise to individual, social, and economic challenges both contemporary and future.

Waldorf teachers receive specialized training in the Waldorf developmentally based curriculum and methods in colleges and training centers in North America, Great Britain, Europe, South America, Australia, and around the world. The Waldorf School of Lexington does not educate students in anthroposophy, the philosophy associated with Steiner's teachings. Wherever a Waldorf school may be located, its curriculum consistently provides a comprehensive academic and cultural education that encourages students to develop into clear-thinking, creative, balanced, and responsible individuals.

The central tenets and values of Waldorf education are the same the world over, while each culture and school makes the curriculum its own.