Nearly 20 Years of EC Education in NZ
It was in 2006 that NZSTE (New Zealand Steiner Teacher Education), the group mandated by the Federation of Waldorf/Steiner Schools, started serious discussions with Taruna College in Havelock North to create in-service courses for early childhood and primary and high school teachers. Taruna was asked by the NZSTE to coordinate these programmes, and develop and deliver training seminars that would be central to these two-year Certificate courses. The programme for Early Childhood was specifically designed for people working in Steiner kindergartens, early childhood centres and playgroups, who had little or no Steiner teaching training.
Kathy MacFarlane and Edith van der Meer became the coordinators for this programme, having many years of experience as Steiner kindergarten teachers; with Kathy already involved in teacher education at the time. They were supported by Rosie Simpson, who was the Programme Director for Teacher In-service Education at Taruna College. Marjorie Theyer provided valuable support in the design of the programme.
Kathy MacFarlane in lecture
This course was to offer a sustained and organised pathway of Professional Development for those who wished to deepen and extend their knowledge, and make conscious their practice of Rudolf Steiner pedagogy as it relates to the young child. The intention was to re-examine and open up both thinking and practices, to discover why we do what we do, through active listening, questioning, reflection and engagement on a practical level.
The course was delivered over two years in four 5-day seminars, held during the school holidays at Taruna College. Participants were expected to take this on as a personal and professional development pathway, not as isolated modules.
And so, we started in January 2007 with 29 students, most of whom had been teaching for a good number of years, but had never had the opportunity to deepen their work in this way. The course was a huge success and we were grateful that we were able to engage a variety of skilled teachers with wide ranging experience from relevant fields, in the delivery of the seminars.
We ran the course for 10 years at Taruna College, constantly averaging about 28-30 students. Every time an intake was finished, the students would ask what would come next as not only the course content but also the networking opportunities this course created for them, had become extremely valuable.
As our country’s representative for the International Association of Steiner/ Waldorf Early Childhood Education (IASWECE), Kathy was able to secure their endorsement for our training as long as we added another year and a certain number of credits of prior and/or future recognition of Waldorf experience and professional development. We developed the New Zealand Steiner Teacher Diploma- Early Childhood (NZSTD-EC) and in 2015 our first 17 students graduated with this IASWECE accredited diploma.
From 2017 onward, enrolment in the Certificate course was no longer offered as a stand-alone option. Since that time, the three-year programme has been completed on three further occasions. Every intake again had around 30 students enrolled in it. Numbers can vary from seminar to seminar as life happens for everyone. If a seminar is missed, the student can enrol with the next intake to complete that specific seminar.
We pride ourselves on having created seminars with very experienced guest/specialist lecturers covering subjects in:
Anthroposophical Studies and Human Development
Evolution of Consciousness
Karma, Destiny and Biography
Anthroposophical view of the human being
The Spiritual Foundations of the Human Being
The Path of inner development of the adult/educator
The Life and work of Rudolf Steiner
Child Development and Waldorf Education
Child development pre-birth to 21
First grade readiness/Transition from kindergarten to school entrance
Overview of Waldorf Education
Sensory development
Role of imitation and play
Development of the will
Development of movement, language and thinking in the first 7 years
Child observation and study
Health and nutrition
Practical Activities
Rhythm of the day, week and year
Festivals and their celebration
Indoor and outdoor environments for young children
Meaningful purposeful work and domestic arts
Language arts – speech, verses, hand gesture games, storytelling, puppetry
Music and mood of the fifth
Rhythmic games, movement, gesture
Working with mixed-age groups
Bodily care of the young child
Gardening and working with nature and the elements
Developmental difficulties and therapeutic approaches
Professional and Social Aspects of Waldorf Education
Education towards social renewal
School organization
Working with colleagues
Working with parents
Outreach and advocacy for children
Meeting the needs of children of diverse background
Artistic and Handwork Activities
Eurythmy
Painting
Sculpture - clay modelling and/or woodcarving
Instrumental music and singing
Speech
Handwork and crafts - for example, sewing, knitting, soft toy making (dolls, marionettes etc.), plant dyeing, needle-felting and working with natural materials
This breadth of topics is one of the quiet strengths of this three-year programme. When students move through this wide array of subjects, they’re not just ticking boxes; they’re building a kind of intellectual and practical agility that’s hard to develop any other way. We believe the strength of the course lies in the face-to-face delivery. Our students look forward to getting together for each seminar, to listen, reflect and work together on the many aspects offered. They form friendships and networks are established for later communication and cooperation.
There’s something powerful about the Waldorf Early Childhood movement in Aotearoa/New Zealand where people feel interconnected. A course that feeds into such a professional community doesn’t just train individuals; it strengthens the movement itself. It gives emerging educators a shared language, shared reference points, and shared experiences. It also helps ensure that new practitioners enter the field already aligned with the values that have shaped Waldorf early childhood education for the last 100 years.
To celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the establishment of the first early childhood kindergarten in Stuttgart in 1926, more than 1,000 early childhood participants from all over the world will come together in the Goetheanum from 8-12 April 2026 to celebrate this important milestone with a conference entitled ‘Kindness-strength-love, Seeds for a healthy unfolding’. This conference is fully booked. We are proud to say that one of our teachers, Kathy MacFarlane, will once again share the big podium, this time with Peter Selg to give a lecture on ‘Finding a harmonious relationship between opposing forces in the world and the individual’. We wish Kathy much love and all the very best.
There are always ways to improve on a course and we are awaiting the feedback from our students, our centre leaders and other stakeholders and are planning to go through all the details of the course to hopefully come out with an even stronger format for the new intake, which is due to start in September 2026.
Early comments from stakeholders like:
“She has stepped into much more of a leadership role, sharing her knowledge and suggesting ways for us to improve our environment and practice what is relevant to the groups of children we’re working with”;
“Having two in-person seminars per year is of value; having face-to-face conversations along with all the collaborative work done during these seminars is invaluable. It’s really one of the only ways we can meet other kaiako from around Aotearoa New Zealand” are encouraging for us.
I know that I am not only speaking for myself, but also for Kathy and Marjorie, who at 90 years-old is still as engaging for our students as ever; to say how humbling and extremely satisfying it has been to be a part of over 250 students’ journeys in discovering the ‘why we do what we do’ for the young child of today.
NB. Approximately 91 students gained their two-year Certificate; and 41 students will have received their diplomas over this period, plus 21 students from this latest intake still have to finish some of their course work before they too will receive their international accredited diploma.
If you or anyone you know is interested in finding out more or wishing to enrol in this next intake, please email Edith van der Meer at ecdiploma@seanz.org for further information.
Edith van der Meer
2 March 2026
NB: This article originally appeared in Scope Magazine