Waldorf High School Teacher Education
Be the teacher your students need most!
Earn a graduate-level certificate to teach in a Waldorf High School.
Since 1996, practicing and aspiring Waldorf high school teachers have turned to our Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP) to deepen their understanding and mastery of this vocation.
Over 200 high school teachers across North America and beyond have successfully completed our program, earning their Waldorf Teacher Credentials.
This certification is recognized by ASWNA and Waldorf high schools across the globe. Participants focus on specialized subject areas, as well as techniques to help ready adolescents for life as mature adults. Our graduates teach in Waldorf schools across North America as well as in Central and South America, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Our team of seasoned high school faculty draws upon the proven track record of Waldorf pedagogy and practices. At the same time, they adapt their courses each year to meet today’s changing societal environment and the needs of today’s teenagers.
Low-Residency and Online Format
As a part-time, graduate-level, low-residency program, WHiSTEP is held over three consecutive Julys. In addition to three summer intensives, trainees undertake two years of independent studies including a research project and internship in a Waldorf high school.
WHiSTEP dates for Summer 2023:
| 2023 Schedule for the Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program |
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Choice of high school subject specializations:
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Week 1: Sunday 25 June – Thursday 29 June – Online
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Week 2 (in person): Sunday 2 July – Sunday 23 July – in person:
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Week 3-4 (in person): Sunday 2 July – Sunday 23 July – in person:
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Starlight Rays in Darkened Times: Seminars on Contemporary Topics for Waldorf High School Teachers
Have Questions?
Contact David Barham!
Curriculum Overview
As a WHiSTEP student, you will deepen your understanding of teaching adolescents in one or more of six specialized academic subjects in the sciences, mathematics, humanities, and the arts.
Choice of high school subject specializations:
As a student, you’ll explore:
- Fundamental ideas of the threefold social organism that underlie Waldorf education
- Physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of the unfolding human being
- Development of “living thinking” in yourself and in those you teach
- Rudolf Steiner’s foundational work Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path: A Philosophy of Freedom and its practical applications to teaching in high school
- A phenomenological approach to planning and carrying out your lessons
- How to help each human being live more deeply into the world
Course Descriptions:
FIRST YEAR GENERAL PEDAGOLOGICAL COURSES
FIRST YEAR SUBJECT SEMINARS
FIRST YEAR WORKSHOPS IN THE ARTS
SECOND YEAR GENERAL PEDAGOLOGICAL COURSES
SECOND YEAR SUBJECT SEMINARS
SECOND YEAR WORKSHOPS IN THE ARTS
THIRD YEAR GENERAL PEDAGOLOGICAL COURSES
THIRD YEAR SUBJECT SEMINARS
THIRD YEAR WORKSHOPS IN THE ARTS
Read about Our Starlight Rays Seminar
Credentials and Career Outlook
Upon successful completion of the program, you’ll receive a Certificate in Waldorf High School Teacher Education recognized at any Waldorf school around the world.
Since its founding, CfA (including its high school program) has been a full member of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA).
With more than 150 Waldorf schools in North America—40 with their own high school—the need for qualified Waldorf high school teachers has never been greater. You can view a list of Waldorf high schools here.
Who Should Apply
- High school teachers wishing to enrich their Waldorf preparation
- Professionals seeking a career change
- Practicing educators
Before you attend, you’ll need:
- A University degree or equivalent diploma
- Some experience working with adolescents preferred
- Preparatory foundational studies in anthroposophy and the arts (available by signing up for CfA’s “Explorations” program here)
- Experience in education and adolescent development
These foundational studies are prerequisite so that applicants come ready to engage in focused study pertaining specifically to the goals, challenges, and responsibilities of high school teachers.
WHiSTEP Faculty
David Barham, WHiSTEP Program Director
Meg Chittenden (Music)
Douglas Gerwin (Foundational Studies)
Paul Gierlach (History & Social Studies)
Michael Holdrege (Life & Earth Sciences)
Jan Lyndes (Spacial Dynamics)
Deborah Mann (Life & Earth Sciences)
Michal Noer (Arts & Art History)
Dick “Cedar” Oliver (Physics)
Marisha Plotnik (Mathematics)
Laura Radefeld (Eurythmy)
Hugh Renwick (Living Thinking)
David Sloan (English & Drama)
Debra Spitulnik (Speech)
Nathan Wilcox (English and Drama)
What our students have said...
We were able to cover and answer essentially all of the questions I had regarding lesson structure, block structure, block content, and topics to cover in grades 9 and 10.
I appreciated the space we gave this year to talking about making new curriculum decisions and the questions we need to consider in doing this. I feel better prepared to make these decisions moving forward.
I’ll bring many insights from this course into my teaching, but also, as importantly, my personal development.
I found the work in sculpture particularly helpful in dealing with some of the concepts that we read in Study of Man around life force forming the head. It was really a wonderful experience to work with shaping our heads in this way, mostly from the inside out. I found it both intellectually and imaginatively stimulating but also somewhat therapeutic to work on the head in this way.
I have had a lot of antipathy toward eurythmy in the past and I found myself enjoying it in a way I never have. It also felt therapeutic in many ways.
Preparing for the performance gave the group a serious, shared goal to work towards and we felt appropriately nervous beforehand and appropriately proud of our success afterwards.
The opportunity to hear about the projects of my classmates was even more valuable in terms of stretching my thinking about Waldorf curriculum development.
