Brussels, 23 May 2018
Council meeting in Prague, May 2018
ECSWE representatives were invited by the Association of Waldorf Schools in the Czech Republic.
Prior to the meeting, a joint conference was held on Thursday at Charles University on the topic “Humanity in the media world, challenges of education in the digital age”. This event was organised by the Czech association of Waldorf Schools and of Waldorf kindergartens in cooperation with three other international associations: the International Forum, IASWECE and ECSWE. It featured speeches by Clara Aerts (IASWECE), Douglas Gerwin (Center for Anthroposophy), Richard Landl (ECSWE), Václav Mertin (a child psychologist) and Tomáš Zdražil (International Forum). The speeches were followed by a panel discussion about school education in a digitalised world.
On Friday morning, interested ECSWE members were invited to a seminar on the topic of lobbying organised by Georg Jürgens. The members reflected on what is lobbying and the importance of setting clear objectives and of establishing SMART goals in such a work. They also had the opportunity to discuss some national issues they face in their advocacy work back in their home country.
ECSWE’s internal work consisted of a review of the previous meeting in Cracow, domestic reports from Czech Republic, Norway and Ukraine, a report about voluntary services from two guests from Freunde, a peer-learning session allowing representatives to present and discuss national challenges, the annual AGM, and an advocacy update of the office’s work in Brussels. Other topics covered: news from the assessment working group with Learning for Wellbeing, the ELIANT petition for the right to screen-free day care institutions, kindergartens and primary schools, national approaches to media education in Finland and Denmark and updates on the planned Waldorf 100 events and ECSWE’s new website.
Besides the working sessions, a guided walking tour of the old town in the footsteps of Rudolf Steiner was organised on Saturday afternoon. In the evening, it was followed by a lovely joint concert of the Czech Waldorf lyceums of Prague and Ostrava. On Saturday and Sunday mornings we had the chance to learn some traditional Czech folk songs.