ABSTRACT
Steiner Waldorf education was founded in 1919, and is continuing to grow and spread throughout the world, keeping true to its fundamental curriculum no matter in which culture it appears, from China to South Africa, South America to Finland. The ‘early years’ (known as ‘Steiner Waldorf early childhood’) cover pre-birth, working with parenting, baby groups and on into kindergarten (3 to 6 plus years). Steiner Waldorf schools offer a real alternative to mainstream education throughout the world, and see themselves not as competitors but as partners providing a complementary provision, contributing to and learning from other educational practice. In many countries Steiner Waldorf schools are publicly funded within the maintained sector, such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, New Zealand and Australia. Steiner kindergartens thrive in Europe, particularly in Germany where they are an accepted part of the education. New initiatives for training Steiner Waldorf early childhood teachers are springing up all over the world, particularly in the Far East where new kindergartens are growing and spreading.
