European Council of Steiner Waldorf Education

Annual Report 2023

The Euro­pean Coun­cil for Stein­er Wal­dorf Edu­ca­tion is an inter­na­tion­al non-prof­it organ­i­sa­tion (AISBL). It con­sists of 27 nation­al Stein­er Wal­dorf school asso­ci­a­tions, rep­re­sent­ing 802 Stein­er Wal­dorf schools across 29 Euro­pean coun­tries. Our mis­sion is to sup­port gen­uine Stein­er Wal­dorf edu­ca­tion and pro­mote free­dom in edu­ca­tion in Europe.

For the first time since 2013, we received an oper­at­ing grant from the Euro­pean Union co-fund­ing our core activ­i­ties. Thus we were able to offer our mem­bers more capac­i­ty build­ing and net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. We also worked on cur­ricu­lum devel­op­ment and explored our mem­bers’ needs in a new round of mem­ber calls.

Many thanks to all our mem­bers, friends and part­ners for a suc­cess­ful and enrich­ing year.

Margareta Van Raemdonck

[email protected]
+32 2 644 00 43

Georg Jürgens

[email protected]
+32 2 644 00 43
+32 485 668 230

Highlights of 2023

The European Commission approves our operating grant

The funds enabled us to strength­en our core activ­i­ties includ­ing offer­ing our mem­bers more net­work­ing and capac­i­ty build­ing opportunities.

Providing our expertise to the European Commission’s work

We gave our inputs into the work­ing group on Path­ways to School Suc­cess, on Sus­tain­abil­i­ty in School Edu­ca­tion and on Dig­i­tal Education.

Organising the first HERMMES conference on media education

200 par­ents, teach­ers, researchers, and school lead­ers met in Italy to dis­cuss uses and mis­us­es of ana­logue and dig­i­tal media in education.

Calling our members to understand their needs and challenges

Two-hour video calls with 25 of our 27 mem­bers pro­vid­ed a wealth of infor­ma­tion that serves as the basis for our work in 2024.

Association Report 2023

Expanding our activities

The European Commission approves our operating grant

The funds enabled us to strength­en our core activ­i­ties includ­ing offer­ing our mem­bers more net­work­ing and capac­i­ty build­ing opportunities.

Adopting Generative Principles of Steiner Waldorf Education

The 12 prin­ci­ples point the edu­ca­tion­al approach, core ped­a­gog­i­cal prac­tices and school gov­er­nance of Stein­er Wal­dorf schools across Europe.

Towards a common curriculum for Steiner Waldorf schools

A fea­si­bil­i­ty study rec­om­mends devel­op­ing a com­mon cur­ricu­lum frame­work for Stein­er Wal­dorf schools in Europe in 2024 and 2025.

Financial report 2023: €369.506 spent on activities and projects

The finan­cial year 2023 ends with a pos­i­tive result of €22,532 after reserve allocation.

Advocacy Report 2023

Sharing our expertise

Providing our expertise to the European Commission’s work

We gave our inputs into the work­ing group on Path­ways to School Suc­cess, on Sus­tain­abil­i­ty in School Edu­ca­tion and on Dig­i­tal Education.

Organising the first HERMMES conference on media education

200 par­ents, teach­ers, researchers, and school lead­ers met in Italy to dis­cuss uses and mis­us­es of ana­logue and dig­i­tal media in education.

Hosting a policy event on the development of key competences

Dur­ing the Life­long Learn­ing Week 2023 in Brus­sels we explored the rela­tion between the EU key com­pe­tences and a child’s unique potential.

Contributing to the Stakeholders Forum in Brussels

The Life­long Learn­ing Stake­hold­ers Forum served as a way to give our input into the review of the Euro­pean Edu­ca­tion Area.

Member Report 2023

Serving our members

Calling our members to better understand their needs

Two-hour video calls with 25 of our 27 mem­bers pro­vid­ed a wealth of infor­ma­tion that serves as the basis for our work in 2024.

Responding to our members’ needs for more capacity building

Offer­ing work­shops on lead­er­ship, advo­ca­cy, and project writ­ing to sup­port pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment of our members.

Two council meetings focused on leadership

Explor­ing lead­er­ship solu­tions at the per­son­al, school, and asso­ci­a­tion lev­el as a pre­con­di­tion for success.

One council meeting included parent representatives

85 par­ents and teach­ers from 23 coun­tries gath­ered in Conegliano, Italy, to share ideas for bet­ter Stein­er Wal­dorf schools communities.

HERMMES partners working towards tangible results

In 2023 our Eras­mus+ project on dig­i­tal media edu­ca­tion host­ed its first mul­ti­pli­er event and cre­at­ed the first draft results.

UPSWE: Empowering secondary school teachers and pupils

Emerg­ing from an ECSWE work­ing group, the Eras­mus+ project on upper schools (UPSWE) was launched in April 2023.

Want more? Read previous annual reports!

Any questions?

Frans Ebskamp, Treasurer

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