ON WALDORF PEDAGOGY - A PEDAGOGY OF THE PRESENT

Defining the specificity of Waldorf pedagogy has proven to be an essential objective for alternative Waldorf education in Romania, for the practitioners- kindergarten, primary school, middle school and highschool teachers, for the beneficiaries- students and their parents and anyone who may be interested in education and, last but not least, for the authorities involved in the Romanian education system. The process has not been easy because the international organizations responsible for supporting, promoting, ensuring quality within Waldorf education worldwide have avoided establishing a set of criteria that must be met in order for schools to be entitled to use the Waldorf trademark. The reason for this avoidance of defining the specificity of Waldorf education strictly is that any established set of rules may limit the freedom of Waldorf alternatives in any country in the world. Only in November 2009, in Dornach, within the International Forum for Steiner/Waldorf Education (Hague Circle) was a document adopted which tried to define the above mentioned specificity, with the overt mention that it is a guideline and a soure of inspiration, rather than of limitation. The document is contained in its entirety in the following pages.