Waldorf Leadership Development

The complex economical, legal and cultural demands and dynamics in the 21st century ask for new ways of organizing as many school-leaders admit. Based on interviews with school leaders in differen...

The complex economical, legal and cultural demands and dynamics in the 21st century ask for new ways of organizing as many school-leaders admit. Based on interviews with school leaders in different European countries, there seems to be a longing for reinventing new leadership concepts and skills to make this possible. In different countries one can observe different responses to this challenge. But for those who are involved, there is hardly any professional support available. This project wants to contribute to filling this gap.

To realize this objective, the initiators of this project aim ● to perform interviews with school leaders to obtain an overview of the main issues and questions among the schools ● to build an international community by organizing three international conferences and a series of workshops ● to create an online platform of involved people to address and share this leadership development question ● to support research and development processes in Waldorfschools to find the best leadership praxis for the organization ● to develop an international masterclass for Waldorfschool leaders to learn the best leadership concepts and competences ● to write and publish a guideline leadership for Waldorfschools ● to explore the possibility of establishing strong relationship between individual schools, federations of Waldorfschools and the European Council of Steiner Waldorf Education.

● A process of action-research started by eight Waldorfschools in eight European countries on leadership questions, culminating in a final report with the results of the research. Project participants are satisfied with the process and results. ● An online platform for leaders and others involved and interested in the topic of Waldorf School Leadership Development. End August 2024 the platform counts 59 members. ● Conferences (two online and one life conference) regarding the progress and results of the WLD project as the start of a living learning community of Waldorfschool leaders. During the October 2023 conference we had in combination with ECSWE members 56 attendees and during the online conference in in June 2024 we had 73 attendees. ● A handbook for Waldorfschool Leadership Development. The first version, Handbook WLD 1.0 is available on the platform end of August 2024. ● Well-designed learning tools like workshops, study programs and a masterclass for leadership development on a European level. A convocation for the workshop in November this year and a brochure for the learning program and the masterclass will be available for distribution at the end of August 2024 on the platform.