Just under 8,000 people live on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The 163 square kilometre island belongs geographically to Oceania, but politically to Chile, which is around 4,000 kilometres away as the crow flies - the education system is, therefore, Chilean. The island's first Waldorf school was established here around five years ago. In the new school year, the small school community of Waldorf Hanua-nua Mea is growing from 16 to 25 children.

In Iran, more and more people are interested in alternative educational approaches, and Waldorf education is attracting a great deal of interest. However, the schools usually have to be fully financed by the parents. This is a financial burden for many families. Arefeh Rezvanmanesh from the ‘Garden of Childhood’ talks about how the Waldorf initiative came about and the challenges involved.

In October 2023, thanks to the financial support of the Friends of Waldorf Education, the Waldorf initiative Sol Naciente in San Esteban was able to purchase the long-awaited neighbouring plot of land to the primary school. There is a building on the site that was in urgent need of renovation for its planned use as a school. Further support from the Friends in March 2024 financed important work on the building to enable the secondary school to move there quickly. The secondary school, like the kindergarten, had previously been housed in rented rooms further away. Thanks to the new proximity of the primary and secondary levels, a school that belongs together can finally be created.

The Rudolf Steiner School Mbagathi is located south of Nairobi. The 430 pupils and kindergarten children enjoy going to school every day. One of the school's main tasks is to offer children from disadvantaged families a positive perspective for life. We rely on support in the form of partnerships, grants and donations.

A special situation has arisen in the Armenian education system. The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport is opening up to new ideas and forms of school education. Minister Zhanna Andreasyan regularly meets in person with representatives of the Association of Private Schools and is open and interested in innovative proposals. Thanks to the participation of the Aregnazan Waldorf School in Yerevan in the development of new educational standards and the support of the minister, some important changes have been made to the state curriculum. Ara Atayan, class teacher at the Aregnazan Waldorf School and lecturer in Renaissance art history at Yerevan State University, reports on a new format for meetings, the ‘Pedagogical Club’, the minister's visit to his school, and the reforms in the state school system:

Ein Bustan is a Jewish-Arab non-profit organisation near Kiryat Tivon that works in the field of bilingual and multicultural education based on Waldorf education. With this approach, the project was the first of its kind in Israel and still offers the only multicultural kindergarten in the north of the country. The organisation was founded in 2005 by Jewish and Arab parents from neighbouring communities and gives the children opportunities to get to know and interact with each other from an early age. The political situation requires great adaptability on the part of the children and their parents as well as the teachers. Gal Mosenson, who is involved in the project, told us about the current situation in January 2025:

The Fairer School Index developed by the University of Bristol assesses the performance of schools. This index is not based on exam results but recognises that pupils face different challenges.

After more than ten years, a second congress on Waldorf education took place in Turkey. More than 300 people interested in Waldorf education came together in Izmir. Over two days, on 7th and 8th December 2024, participants were able to learn the basic principles of Waldorf education through lectures and workshops in a festival-like atmosphere.

With this appeal, we are asking for donations for our work so that we can continue to support children and young people worldwide in kindergartens and schools as well as in emergency educational missions. Your donation will support our efforts to lay the foundations for the future of children.

Since 2021, the Chilean training institute EFA (Educacion, Filosofia y Arte), in cooperation with Alanus University, has been offering an academic training programme in the form of a three-year part-time certificate course that teaches the basics of Waldorf education, and qualifies students to teach foreign languages independently. The certificate course is primarily aimed at applicants who wish to teach in a country where Spanish is an official language, such as Spain, or most Latin American countries.