Waldorf education was initiated in Stuttgart, Germany, where the workers of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory were discontent with the education their children were receiving at the public middle schools. Among the issues were the lack of the teachers’ creative thinking and their rigid pedagogical approaches, something that did not support the students’ holistic development, the building of their character, as well as failed to provide a valuable learning experience.

Upon learning of these issues, Emil Molt, the factory owner, started looking for ways to improve the situation. Having heard the lectures on pedagogy and education by Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian philosopher, thinker, and founder of anthroposophy, he approached him with the proposal of founding a school based on his innovative pedagogical notions. Steiner undertook the task of creating a curriculum of the first Waldorf school and Molt began the construction of the new school building, which would house 256 students in 8 grades. In September 1919, Steiner presented the first series of lectures on Waldorf education.

The new school was to become a place enabling a more human-centric education that would better meet the age-specific features and interests of children and resonate with their developmental needs.

For over the past 100 years, Waldorf schools have developed into a worldwide network of around 1200 independent non-denominational schools functioning in all continents and in many cultures.