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First Peoples Principles of Learning and Waldorf Education

This document was collaboratively edited and approved by the BC Waldorf Collective, October 2025. It was originally drafted by Jennifer Ross in 2018. 

1. Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors. 

In a BC Waldorf school, teachings create a foundation of spiritual knowledge within the time, location, and history of the Indigenous land on which each school resides. Waldorf teachers recognize children as spiritual beings. Thus, when attending a Waldorf school, each learner’s well-being is intended to support the strengthening of the human spirit. The children are often taught by the same teacher for many years, creating a strong bond between the teacher, the child, and their family. Our faculty, families and community benefit from a holistic view of the child. Waldorf pedagogy also embraces nature as a source of healing, beauty and creativity. We celebrate festivals and ceremonies throughout each school year that bring the children into reflective moments that honour the earth, the cycles and the seasons of the year. 

2. Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place). 

Waldorf education is holistic at its pedagogical foundation, teaching primarily from the whole to the parts. Learning is connected and related, and the child experiences this wholeness through the cross-curricular connections between lessons, themes, subjects, and social and personal growth. Lessons are place-based to encourage connection to the local community, ancestral Indigenous community, and natural community. Children learn through hands-on experiences, living and expressing the themes, until they become knowledgeable. Waldorf schools encourage students to be deeply observant, noticing the interconnectedness and reciprocity in the Earth’s natural laws and rhythms. Students and teachers share their understanding through observations. Reciprocal learning occurs in the school community with connections between grades, adults and students, and is modelled between teachers and parents. 

3. Learning involves recognizing the consequences of one’s actions. 

A Waldorf school embraces a positive and proactive approach to discipline and accountability. We have gained success in building pro-social behaviour through a gradually developing awareness in each child that their actions have consequences. Discipline is brought with the intent to ‘teach’ actions that require recognizing how their choices affect others. As the children develop, expected behaviour and consequences change with the stage of the child, allowing for self-reflection and restorative service work. Most often, there is an effort to link a restorative outcome to the undesirable behaviour and ensures that developmentally appropriate reflection of one’s actions occurs. 

4. Learning involves generational roles and responsibilities. 

In a Waldorf school community, it is of great significance when families intentionally choose this education, and they often remain a part of the school community beyond the school year. Elders in the community are encouraged to pass on and share their knowledge and gifts in a variety of ways, ranging from participation in festival life, storytelling, events, school projects, class trips, traditional crafting, handwork and more. Their participation and stories are a powerful way to connect the generations and support students in recognizing and experiencing intergenerational relationships. Through these experiences, students begin to recognize the role of their elders as wisdom and story keepers, and understand experientially how knowledge is passed from one generation to the next. 

5. Learning recognizes the role of indigenous knowledge.
 
In a Waldorf school, there is a consistent effort made to form relationships with the local Indigenous community and the surrounding land. There is an emphasis on authentic Indigenous resources and the incorporation of local elders and knowledge keepers into the life of the school, including the history and traditions of the Indigenous people of that particular area. Stories and art projects are regular ways of sharing this knowledge, as is the inclusion of Elders and Knowledge Keepers whenever possible. Waldorf Schools inspire wonder through explorations of and connections to both the seen and the unseen world. We embrace this Indigenous knowledge when we spend time outdoors and teach respect for the plants and animals. Whenever it is appropriate, Indigenous knowledge imbues classroom activities. 

6. Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story. 

Waldorf schools understand that the ability to recall a memory, to reflect and discuss, is a necessary skill in acquiring knowledge. On a daily basis, teachers use the tool of recall/review to ask students questions regarding the lesson material and the story from the previous day. Students must conjure up the memory, see the picture in their mind, or feel it in their hearts, and share it with the class in a variety of ways. Waldorf Schools use oral storytelling as their primary vehicle for imparting knowledge and wisdom. History is taught primarily through story, and is vitally important to our teaching, as it brings knowledge and awareness of our human story upon the earth. Teachers use “characterization” in storytelling and, whenever possible, bring the stories of those in the past from a neutral place, encouraging critical thinking and contemplation about the actions and impacts of those who have come before us. 

7. Learning involves patience and time. 

Waldorf schools deeply understand this to be true, and thus have a system in many of our schools where the same class teacher works with the same group of students for up to 8 years. This allows for patience when teaching new concepts and a wide embrace for students who need more time. Patience is nurtured through various areas of the curriculum, such as Handwork, Music, Main Lessons, and Track Lessons, where students develop perseverance over time. Projects within these subjects can take many weeks, and thus, the learning becomes the practice of patience. Patience is required on a daily basis as we teach our students to practice this through waiting their turn to speak, to be kind and gentle to themselves as well as others, and practice patience when they are learning something new or challenging. 

8. Learning requires exploration of one’s identity. 

Waldorf schools regard storytelling as a primary way for a student to explore their own identity. If we do not understand the past and how we have come to be where we are today, then it is difficult to explore one’s own identity with any depth or authenticity. Students are brought along the human journey, first through Fairy Tales, Fables and Mythologies, to stories from the first Indigenous Peoples, to ancient history, great battles, exploration and exploitation, the age of industry, and modern history. Through these curricular and pedagogical stories, children are able to recognize the human qualities that are more or less desirable, and through our teaching of the students, they strive to uncover more desirable human qualities. Students are supported to know and respect the identity of others on the path to understanding their own identity. Student self-assessments are related to the stories they learn and the history they study to further their understanding of themselves. Students are taught over time to build up their ability to critically think about these stories and times in history, to ask questions, to make connections between past and present, and to be able to recognize where we stand today, as a human race. Through the exploration of the human journey, there are consistently individual stories and biographies of great humans, with both foolish and brilliant characteristics. Through this full exploration, students are provided with the opportunity to self-reflect on their own identity. 

9. Learning involves recognizing that some knowledge is sacred and only shared with permission and/or in certain situations. 

This principle is embedded in Waldorf education. We strive to create protective environments for the younger students, recognizing that some knowledge is beyond their understanding and would not serve them yet. We see that there is a clear time and developmental stage for each level of knowledge, and we have a curriculum designed to introduce layers of a subject over time. For example, we choose to take a measured and intentional approach to academic rigour, and build a strong foundation for literacy and numeracy to unfold through active play, curiosity and joyful wonder in the earlier years, with increasing complexity in the upper grades. We recognize that students thrive in an experiential learning environment, and the knowledge we share with the students unfolds based on our understanding that it is sacred. We want this knowledge to resonate within them, and it does when it is shared at the right time. We also understand and respect that some Indigenous stories and knowledge are only for those with Indigenous ancestry to share when appropriate. In addition, we recognize that some knowledge cannot be shared freely and, if sharing is permitted, it may only be shared with specific permission. This requires us to know the source of Indigenous knowledge and resources that are gathered by/shared with us, and adhere to the appropriate knowledge-sharing permissions specific to each of them. Where appropriate or possible, we may practice Reciprocity; if we are asking for knowledge to be shared, what can we offer in return?