Strengthening Children in Uncertain Times

Strengthening Children in Uncertain Times

Prof. Dr. Philipp Gelitz on 100 years of Waldorf kindergartens and the future of early childhood

Since the founding of the first Waldorf kindergarten in 1926, early childhood education has changed fundamentally. Today, digitalization, social crises and new family realities shape children’s upbringing. Which ideas of Waldorf education remain valid today? What challenges do children, families and educational institutions face? And how can contemporary Waldorf education respond?

On the occasion of the “100 Years of Waldorf Kindergartens” anniversary, Prof. Dr. Philipp Gelitz, Professor of Waldorf Early Childhood Education at Alanus University, speaks about the beginnings of the movement, current challenges and necessary future perspectives.

2026 is the anniversary year of Waldorf kindergartens: for 100 years, children have found spaces for development in Waldorf kindergartens – a long period during which much has changed. How did Waldorf kindergartens begin and where do they stand today?

The first Waldorf kindergarten on the grounds of the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart was only able to begin in 1926 after several attempts. Everyone involved was highly challenged by the founding of the first Waldorf school and the gradual development of the school, and there were not enough opportunities to engage more closely with the kindergarten as well. Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, had repeatedly stressed how important a kindergarten was, but apparently the time simply was not yet ripe before then. Waldorf early childhood education was initially purely a kindergarten movement. Today, of course, this also includes nursery care for children under three, childminders, but also entry classes, bridge classes or preschool classes. Over the past 30 to 40 years, the field has therefore become much larger and encompasses very different organizational forms of early childhood education. The movement has also grown strongly in terms of absolute numbers. While there were still fewer than 100 Waldorf kindergartens in Germany by 1970, today there are nearly 600 institutions in Germany and nearly 2,000 worldwide.

What would you say are the biggest changes in recent years with regard to early childhood? What challenges do young children, families and kindergartens face today?

The biggest change is certainly the omnipresence of electronics and digital media. What used to be regarded as problematic media use has increasingly become everyday life. We do everything through screens, tapping and swiping. That is mostly very practical, but it leads to children having role models who briefly freeze dozens of times a day in order to sort something out on their phone screen. From a child’s perspective, this looks as though adults are not quite connected to reality.

In addition, with regard to childhood and family life, I see a particular challenge above all in the fact that a long-valid promise about the future no longer really holds true. The idea that the next generation will have it better than the one before is currently not really to be expected in view of the ecological crisis, declining trust in democracy, populism, but also fear of war and the discussions about rearmament.

From an educational perspective, it would be necessary to prevent all this talk of crisis from spilling over into children’s world. That is asking a lot and may perhaps be too much, but children need security for healthy development. We owe them that, even if it is demanding.

Are there Waldorf themes that are timeless? Are there specific features of a Waldorf kindergarten?

Definitely the special emphasis on free play, but also the play materials, the room design with its many natural materials, and a rhythmic daily structure. The importance of rhythm and repetition, and thus orientation within temporal sequences, is distinctly typical of Waldorf education. The special focus on household and craft activities carried out together with the children, as much contact with nature as possible, and the wide range of artistic offerings are also particularly characteristic of the Waldorf kindergarten.

However, especially with regard to aesthetic and cultural elements, it also becomes clear that Waldorf kindergartens can look very different in different cultural contexts.

At this year’s World Conference “Kindergarten and Early Childhood” at the Goetheanum, you gave a keynote for Alanus University as part of the ceremony marking the Waldorf kindergarten anniversary – which topic did you place at the forefront?

The core of my contribution was that in the future, Waldorf education should no longer primarily explain, justify and defend what Waldorf education is. Instead, it is necessary to focus on present-day challenges – as already mentioned, for example digitalization, sustainability and populism.

Beyond such unsettling topics, there is also a wide range of current questions, challenges and new conditions in relation to family life, inclusion, diversity and much more. I argued that we should change our perspective and, starting from these topics, look at what Waldorf education has to offer, rather than starting from Waldorf education and considering how we can understand the present.

If Waldorf education does not have a suitable educational answer to a particular question, then we simply have to develop one – it’s as simple as that. If you feel a strong connection to Waldorf education, you may initially be very attached to the forms in which it has existed so far. I notice this both in myself and in others. But we are not responsible for Waldorf education; we are responsible for children.