Waldorf Early Childhood Courses at WCI

Waldorf Early Childhood Educator Training Auditing

We are opening some of our Early Childhood Educator Training courses to auditors.

February, 2025 Session Auditing

February 16 to 22, 2025

Course participants will join our Early Childhood Educator Training Program, and are asked to pay an auditing fee of $25 per class. Registration for all of Laurie Clark’s courses is $250–a discount of $75. Auditors must commit to, and pay for, all classes within a course. Courses are open to Waldorf educators and those interested in anthroposophy.

All courses are in person at the Vancouver Waldorf School: 2725 St Christophers Rd, North Vancouver, BC

Registration will close February 10, or sooner if class capacity is reached.

Click here for the Auditors’ schedule.

Anthroposophy and Waldorf Education

with Patricia Smith and Ruth Ker, Feb, 22 (1 class)
Upon completion of this class the student will have the ability to understand the possibilities in their career path ahead and the support system that is available within the anthroposophical movement.

Polarities: the Constitution of the Child

with Laurie Clark, Feb. 17–21 (5 classes)
This course will introduce and illustrate the different constitutional types as observed in the human being.  It will help us come to an understanding of the way Rudolf Steiner describes children, a way which can help us to draw nearer to the true nature of the child. Laurie will be offering new information about literacy, language acquisition for the young child and the birth of the etheric.

Rudolf Steiner’s Biography

with Patricia Smith, Feb, 21 (1 class)
During this class we will enter into an understanding of the fundamental threads of Rudolf Steiner’s life and work through the three, 21 year phases of his biography in order to better understand the life and times of the person who inspired Waldorf education.

Understanding Children’s Drawings

with Laurie Clark, Feb. 17-19 (3 classes)
In the early years, up to the seventh year of life, children usually love to draw. These drawings are not to be dismissed as mere meaningless scribbles, or as an imperfect record of the surroundings. We recognize that these kinds of drawings are natural for childhood and that children’s drawings go through an evolution over the first seven years. The drawings in early childhood are outer expressions of inner development. In this course we will examine the stages of children’s drawings as they come to expression during the first seven years of life.

The Unfolding Development of the Child

with Laurie Clark, Feb. 17–21 (5 classes)
This course explores challenges teachers now commonly see in children’s healthy development including: sensory issues; retained movement patterns; vision issues; auditory processing; social difficulties / “spectrum” behaviors; speech and communication difficulties. Laurie will also be exploring the virtues of the curative side of education, the importance of the pre-literacy time and working with the kinesthetic child.

The Young Child in the Modern World

with Astrid Lackner, Feb. 16 (2 classes)
It is a daunting and challenging task to bring up children today. This course will help students to understand the many challenges parents face. Topics such as changing family life, lack of rhythm in daily life, early academics, increasing technology, the ‘entertained child’, the lack of understanding how to nurture the inner life of the child, over-stimulation, living with fear and anxiety and other relevant subjects will be addressed.

Registration Form

Auditors’ schedule

Course Refund Policy

Summer Intensive Course

Enriching the Soul of the Caregiver and the Child

with Anna Rainville, Dorota Ignaszewska and Ko Hawkes

June 29 to July 4, 2025

at Sunrise Waldorf School in Duncan, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Opening Sunday at 3:00 pm
Daily schedule 8:00 am to 5:30 pm

Last summer this course was attended by many appreciative participants. They all want to return again this summer! Please join us as we gather together again to study, move, sing and paint while we enrich our inner landscape and repertoire of songs, games, and puppetry skills. In a lively way, as we deepen in the meaning of our work, Anna will guide us to polish our stars. We will look at topics like EC literacy, the second birth of the child and ways to strengthen our practice. Dorota brings expertise with the charm of puppets for their captivating ability to bring magic through speech and gesture. We will make puppets and a story apron and create our own puppet play. Ko will be helping us to explore more of our inner life through biography and painting. There will be time for participants to learn from each other and create beautiful story aprons (cost included in tuition).

This course is open to Waldorf educators and those interested in anthroposophy.

Registration Fee: $100 CDN (non-refundable)
Tuition: $600 CDN
Includes handwork supplies

Registration Form

Course Refund Policy

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Waldorf Early Childhood Summer Courses

Summer training, courses and workshops are held at the Sunrise Waldorf School on Vancouver Island, in beautiful scenic British Columbia, Canada

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Waldorf Early Childhood Program Directors

Ruth Ker: ece@westcoastinstitute.org | 250-748-7791

Debbie Laurin: debbielaurin@westcoastinstitute.org

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West Coast Institute for Studies in Anthroposophy

Email: info(at)westcoastinstitute.org
Tel: 604-740-0539