Although these are two distinct programs with different courses and faculty, they convene at High Mowing at the same time in July and share community events. Both are recognized by the Association of Waldorf Schools in North America (AWSNA) and meet specific guidelines for teacher preparation programs.

Jonathan Haidt’s important book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness © 2024 is in its 60th week on the New York Times Bestseller lists (both Hardcover Nonfiction and Combined Print & E-Book nonfiction), and is currently #2.

The Waldorf Teacher Education Programs at Center for Anthroposophy and Antioch take seriously their mission to inspire and prepare the next generation of Waldorf high school teachers to meet the needs of this “anxious generation.” Haidt describes a transition from a “play-based childhood” to a “phone-based childhood” (and by phone-based he includes all internet-connected electronics that fill young people’s time, including laptop computers, tablets, internet-connected video game consoles, and of course, smartphones with their millions of apps).

This “great rewiring” as Haidt refers to it, can be met by caring, skilled, educators. Our programs seek to transform the individuals who attend in three fundamental ways so that they can truly meet the young people, families and communities with whom they work:

Foundational Understanding of the Developing Human Being

• The foundation of Waldorf education is the vision of human development given by Rudolf Steiner beginning in 1919. This anthropological foundation provides the teacher with a profound new way to understand the human being in body, soul,  and spirit and to meet the unfolding developmental and biographical riddles of each young person.

A transformed view of the unfolding human being is at the heart of Waldorf teacher education.

High School and Grades Specific Training

• High school teachers are specialists, not generalists. There is no generic high school teacher, there are physics teachers, life science teachers, mathematics teachers, history teachers, English teachers, art teachers, etc. During their studies in WHiSTEP, teachers are immersed in one or two disciplines and learn to transform their craft, their approach to their subject, in light of the anthropological foundations described above.

A transformed view of what we teach, how we teach it, when we  teach it, and why we  teach it in high school.

• Grades teachers are generalists, and teach a wide variety of subjects throughout their time with a class, whether it be for a few years, or a complete eight-year cycle. During their studies at Antioch, teachers are introduced to a broad number of curriculum topics in order to hone their teaching capacities, and deepen their understanding of when, why, and how to teach these grades 1-8 subjects in light of the anthropological foundations described above.

A transformed view of what, how, when and why to teach the child in grades 1-8.

Self Transformation and the Arts

• A deep immersion in the arts of speech, drama, singing, sculpture/clay modeling or painting, eurythmy, and spacial dynamics can only occur when we are live together on campus. There is no better way to cultivate beginner’s mind and beginner’s heart than immersion in the arts. Here we learn compassion for one’s own mistakes that deepens into compassion for the learning experience of our student. We learn bravery to take risks, push through blocks and to deeply appreciate beauty in its endless manifestations.

A transformed self through the arts makes us  braver and more compassionate teachers, alive with new abilities to perceive the beauty of each human soul.

We need to be together to do this magical work. We need time and space. We need each other- a community of seekers asking profound questions about how to be truly responsible to those students in our care. Literally, new possibilities for education, and therefore for the future of the world, happen during the summer residency.

They don’t call it an intensive for nothing!

Remember: Happy Teachers Change the World (Thich Nhat Hanh)

David Barham, Program Director, Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP)
Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP)

Carla Beebe Comey, Program Director Antioch Waldorf Teacher Education Program

Antioch University Waldorf Teacher Education Program