You wouldn’t plant or care for a spinach seed the same way as an acorn for an oak tree or a bulb for a tulip. And so it is with a child. Understanding who a child is, is crucial for understanding and guiding how to treat and raise a child. The Waldorf Education Pedagogy (the method and practice of teaching) strives to do that very thing- understand the child. 

 

From the book, The Seven Core Principles of Waldorf Education, the author Leibnar explains that all educational approaches hold a view of the child whether spoken or not, and that influences how they approach teaching and educating the child. The success Waldorf Education has at teaching and educating a child starts with key fundamental principles its founder Rudolf Steiner created through study and observation to better understand the child.​

Here is a link to learn more about the beginnings of Waldorf 

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One core principle that Steiner based this pedagogy on is that of a three part concept of a human being. Each human being consisting of a spirit with pre characteristics and personality; where imagination, inspiration and intuition originate; and wisdom and knowledge is gained. This spirit resides within a physical body, this is part two, with many senses to take in information from the world and environment around him/her. And, lastly, a soul which connects the body and spirit by communicating the impressions and observations made by the body to the spirit. This is where the relationships or connections to the things in the world are created and where impulses or desires make up the will or motivation of a person (https://www.gaiawaldorf.co.za/the-threefold-human-being).  Leibnar creates a visual this way - with our body we see and maybe even smell a daisy; our spirit learns to recognize that that plant is a flower called a daisy; our soul forms the personal and unique relationship  with the daisy whether one likes it or not or decides to cares for it or not. 

 

Leibnar concludes that “if you hold the view that the essential nature of every student is an eternal, spiritual individuality that has to fashion its own journey in freedom, then your pedagogy (methods of educating) will endeavor to support that spiritual element in developing and achieving its own aims. The skills and capacities that you will strive to nurture within the student will not be ends in themselves, nor will they be preparations for predetermined later stages, but rather vehicles for the students (self) to find its way in the world.” (The Seven Core Principles of Waldorf education, p. 20)

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Therefore with this base of understanding, the daily experiences of infancy and childhood and even throughout adulthood is about that spirit being awakened and discovering the world and connecting to it and then acting in accordance. This view of a being just sparks a new level of joy and excitement to the idea of learning and living. “Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and meaning to their lives.”Steiner

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From here in the other principles you will see how this core principle shapes many aspects of the Waldorf education.