The theme of this conferene reflects the very essence of school life: Learning – weaving into what is there, into what precedes us, what we long for and connect with when we are born. Working – transforming the existing world through active participation, by imprinting ourselves into world events and self-becoming in this process.

Why are we in school day after day? We remind each other of this - children, young people, teachers - «…for learning and for work».* The life of the school.

Learning and working are elementary tasks of humanity. Expanding our understanding and knowledge of the world and shaping our shared reality are the foundations for this. They form the substance of destiny in adult life. The school of life. Being a teacher brings both dimensions together. Life in school becomes a school of life, where pedagogical practice and knowledge of the world have to come together and permeate each other. The school of life and responsible world citizenship legitimate our teaching and enable us to tell the children and young people every day: this is the world that we share.

 

During the conference we will share and deepen, with colleagues from around the world, these dimensions of being teachers, of being teachers in the world and of the world. Rudolf Steiner did not tire to emphasize these dimensions in the pedagogical courses he gave in England, for without this task there is no school. School is a place where learning and work, participation and transformation have always been practised and lived.

 

About the conference:

Technological developments and artificial intelligence give rise to existential questions about learning and work, social responsibility and responsibility towards nature. Scientists, pedagogues and socially and politically committed speakers will address these topics. Questions arising from the lectures will be discussed in open conversations. One of the central questions concerns lesson preparations today. What parts do artificial intelligence, autonomy and creativity play in this? Preparation means that we learn and work as teachers. This learning and working is currently also called into question. This is why a meditatively deepened understanding of the human being and collegial working are so essential to support our pedagogical practice.
 

Class lessons will be held for members of the School of Spiritual Science. Alternatively, there will be an introduction to the Class lessons for those who don’t know this meditative path of knowledge yet that Rudolf Steiner founded for the School of Spiritual Science.

 

There will be guided tours of the Goetheanum building and campus, lectures and research reports, examples of best practice and concerts presented by young people from France and Latvia, by musicians from Norway, Argentina and Switzerland and eurythmy performed by the Goetheanum Eurythmy Ensemble among others. On  30 March, the day of Rudolf Steiner’s death, all are invited to a commemorative gathering.

The programme will go out at the end of August and online registration will be open from mid-September.

The Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum and the International Council for Steiner Waldorf Education invite you warmly to the Twelfth World Teachers’ Conference. This conference is professional development as well as a shared mutual reminder of our chosen task: to work and to learn!