Research for the Future

Legally speaking, the research center is a nonprofit association and currently receives just under one million euros per year—funding comes from German Waldorf schools and foundations. These funds support the Kassel branch, where science teaching materials are developed and publications are produced. In addition, «PäFo» – as the research center is sometimes informally called – serves as the financial coordinating body for the graduate college at Alanus University. Within this framework, scholarships are awarded to doctoral candidates, thereby helping to ensure, among other things, a supply of young scholars for seminars, degree programs, and colleges influenced by Waldorf education.

Additional funding is provided to support projects related to Waldorf education; these projects often result in a publication that is published by the research center’s own publishing house, edition waldorf. In addition, the in-house publishing house also publishes textbooks and teaching materials.

These publications aim to provide a foundation and inspiration for successful teaching—one that is multi-perspective, contemporary, and grounded in Waldorf education. Because this publishing activity is integrated into the Research Center’s nonprofit mission, books can be printed that would not appear elsewhere at all—or at least not in this form. In addition, retail prices can be kept low—which, in the case of schoolbooks, directly benefits parents as well.

Another core task of the research center is the further development of the curriculum. To this end, an action group was formed that works closely with subject-area groups. In order to ensure these tasks are carried out, the Stuttgart office has a staff of four, a volunteer advisory board consisting of 26 Waldorf educators who decide on the allocation of funding, and—as required for an association—a (volunteer) board of directors that bears overall responsibility.

These are the facts and goals. But it is the people involved—and what inspires and drives them—who truly bring the research center to life: in the administrative office, on the advisory board and the executive board, in the projects, and through their publications. You’ll get to know some of them in this issue.