ECSWE – Euro­pean Council

The European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education

ecswe council
ecswe council
What is ECSWE?

The Euro­pean Coun­cil for Stein­er Wal­dorf Edu­ca­tion is an inter­na­tion­al non-prof­it organ­i­sa­tion (AISBL). It con­sists of 28 nation­al Stein­er Wal­dorf school asso­ci­a­tions, rep­re­sent­ing 802 Stein­er Wal­dorf schools across 28 Euro­pean coun­tries. Our mis­sion is to sup­port gen­uine Stein­er Wal­dorf edu­ca­tion and pro­mote free­dom in edu­ca­tion in Europe.

ecswe council
The ECSWE Council

3 meetings every year

Our mem­bers con­vene for ECSWE Coun­cil meet­ings three times a year, in vary­ing loca­tions. These meet­ings are an oppor­tu­ni­ty to report on organ­i­sa­tion­al, polit­i­cal, and legal devel­op­ments regard­ing edu­ca­tion in Europe. Nation­al asso­ci­a­tion rep­re­sen­ta­tives exchange good prac­tices, engage in peer learn­ing, and coor­di­nate joint activ­i­ties and advocacy.

Elections

A new board is elect­ed every 3 years in May, dur­ing the Annu­al Gen­er­al Meet­ing. The nom­i­na­tion and elec­tion pro­ce­dure are usu­al­ly defined dur­ing the first ECSWE Coun­cil meet­ing of an elec­tion year.

27 Representatives

Each nation­al asso­ci­a­tion appoints a rep­re­sen­ta­tive link­ing their organ­i­sa­tion and ECSWE. The rep­re­sen­ta­tive attends ECSWE Coun­cil meet­ings, pre­pares domes­tic reports, and votes in the Annu­al Gen­er­al Meeting.

ecswe council
ecswe council
The ECSWE Board

Board members

The ECSWE board is made of: Mar­gare­ta Van Raem­don­ck (Bel­gium), Pres­i­dent; Iztok Kordiš (Slove­nia), Vice-Pres­i­dent; Wil­fried Bia­lik (Ger­many), Vice-Pres­i­dent; Pia Pale (Fin­land), Sec­re­tary; Pedro Miguel (Por­tu­gal), Treasurer.

Task

The board man­ages and rep­re­sents ECSWE. It offers guid­ance, steers Coun­cil activ­i­ties, plans meet­ing agen­das, hires and super­vis­es staff, and rep­re­sents ECSWE to the EU insti­tu­tions in Brus­sels. It meets 6 times per year.

Annual Meetings

Annu­al Gen­er­al Meet­ings are organ­ised by the board, and hap­pen in May every year. The annu­al accounts of the pre­vi­ous year are adopt­ed, statu­to­ry deci­sions are made, and a new board is elect­ed every third year. See statutes.

ecswe council
ecswe council
Managing Director 
and Brussels office

Managing Director

Georg Jür­gens is the Man­ag­ing Direc­tor of ECSWE. A for­mer Wal­dorf pupil from Munich, he holds a Mas­ter’s degree in Democ­ra­cy Stud­ies from Regens­burg University.

Task

The Man­ag­ing Direc­tor sup­ports the Board in run­ning the organ­i­sa­tion, and coor­di­nates both inter­nal work and advo­ca­cy. On behalf of the Board, the Man­ag­ing Direc­tor fre­quent­ly rep­re­sents ECSWE to EU insti­tu­tions in Brussels.

Brussels office

The ECSWE office in Brus­sels is locat­ed with­in walk­ing dis­tance from the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment. The office facil­i­tates com­mu­ni­ca­tion between ECSWE mem­bers, and liais­es with Euro­pean insti­tu­tions and part­ner organisations.

Interested? Get involved!