Foundation in Anthroposophy is an essential part of the Teacher Training, but may be taken as a separate self-development course.
It will take place at the same time as the Teacher Training Course and comprises the first year of the training. It is also possible to just do the morning part of this course finishing at midday.
Anthroposophy, or Spiritual Science, was founded by Rudolf Steiner at the turn of the last century. It’s insights are the foundation of Waldorf Education, and it is not possible to become a Waldorf Teacher without a study and empathy for these ideas. In this part of the training, or in this course if taken alone, the basic ideas of Anthroposophy are studied and discussed over a one year period. Anthroposophy is not a religion. It’s substance can be accessed by clear thinking without belief, it requires only an open mind to think what may appear at first to be unusual.
The course will study the following topics from Steiner’s work in the first year:
Part 1: Body, soul and spirit, 3 fold man, 4 fold man, 9 fold man. Sleeping and waking. Cycle of life, death and rebirth.
Part 2: The understanding of cosmic evolution as a background to understanding child development and biography.
Part 3: Human biography and it’s phases and development.
Part 4: The Inner path, meditation and the life long learning of the creative individual.
For those that take the morning course in the second year:
Part 5: Foundations of Human Experience – the indepth study of the first educational lectures given by Rudolf Steiner to the founders of the first Waldorf School in 1919.
Part 6: Karma and Reincarnation.
Artistic activities are considered to be a fundamental part of the process of studying Spiritual Science.