The Freie Hochschule Stuttgart educates teachers for Waldorf schools in Germany and worldwide. Accredited academic degree programs with an anthroposophical basis are offered for all pedagogical fields connected to Steiner schools. This includes class and subject teachers as well as high school teachers. In cooperation with the Eurythmeum Stuttgart, the Freie Hochschule also offers accredited courses in eurythmy and eurythmy pedagogy. Located on the same premises as the first Waldorf School at Uhlandshöhe, and as part of a larger campus with a number of other anthroposophical institutions, the Freie Hochschule has been educating teachers since 1928. The modularization and accreditation of the program was a continuation of the effort to bring Waldorf pedagogy into current academic discourse and develop Waldorf education within the larger context of the educational, social and human sciences. The teaching and research activities of the faculty are focused on the further development of a pedagogy in which teaching is viewed as an art. Therein lies a responsibility to extend and enhance the prevalent scientific orientation in traditional teacher education by adopting a more creative and artistic approach, whose aim is to understand and address spiritual, cognitive and emotional processes in a more encompassing manner. In this context, Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy plays a central role. A strong emphasis is placed on creating possibilities for personal development through the intensive practice of a broad range of artistic subjects, including speech formation, eurythmy, music, painting, and sculpture. Regular internships in Waldorf schools are also a crucial element in all programs. An on-going interdisciplinary discourse between anthroposophical, anthropological and artistic approaches is viewed as a basis for understanding pedagogical realities, and as a key to addressing them.

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