History of Waldorf schools
Waldorf schools began in 1919 in Stuttgart, Germany. They were created for the workers of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory, with Rudolf Steiner guiding the education. The school’s name comes from the factory that hosted the first classes.
Steiner and Emil Molt wanted a new kind of school that could bring children from different social backgrounds together. The first class had 256 pupils in eight grades, about half from factory families. The school grew quickly and by the early 1920s added higher grades. The idea spread abroad, and Steiner gave lectures in Britain in 1922–1924 to promote the approach.
In the 1930s, the Nazi regime shut down many Waldorf schools. After World War II, most of them were reopened and many new ones were started. Today Waldorf (also called Steiner) schools are in about 74 countries, with Europe hosting the largest number. Growth also spread to Eastern Europe after 1989.
Germany, the United States and the Netherlands have the most Waldorf schools, and some places have a high concentration relative to their population, such as Norway and Switzerland. In the English-speaking world, there are roughly 200 Waldorf schools in the United States, about 70 in Australia and New Zealand, around 40 in Great Britain, and about 30 in Canada, with many more in New Zealand and South Africa.
Most Waldorf schools are independent and teacher-led, though some are funded or overseen by governments. In the United States, names like Waldorf and Steiner are protected, and many schools that use Waldorf methods are publicly funded as charter or public schools. There are also Waldorf-inspired programs and schools that adapt the approach without being fully independent.
Today, Waldorf/Steiner education continues to grow and evolve, spreading to new countries while staying true to its founder’s ideas about shaping education for social balance, creativity and holistic learning.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:44 (CET).