ESC: Creativity for change: Volunteering in alternative school education

The Freie Waldorfschule Graz (FWS-Graz) is a private school under public law (Reg. Nb.:601641). The school is managed in the form of a general partnership (offene Gesellschaft-OG). The FWSGraz was founded by parents and teachers more than 35 years ago and is part of the worldwide Waldorf/Steiner-School association founded by Rudolf Steiner in 1919. FWS Graz is a general education comprehensive school with about 300 pupils and covers classes 1 to 12, making it one of the bigger Waldorf schools in Austria. There are 45 teachers, most working part-time. The FWS-Graz is situated on an extensive property owned by the city of Graz which has leased it to the “Waldorf School Association” for 99 years. A kindergarten and a nursery are also located on site. The actual Waldorf curriculum (2010) is approved by the Austrian Ministery of Education (BMUKK) and is based on the principles of Steiner´s pedagogical guidelines. It gives equal attention to the physical, emotional, intellectual, cultural and spiritual needs of each pupil and is designed to work in harmony with the different phases of the child’s development. Main focus is laid on artistic lessons like music, art, drama theatre and craft based subjects as stone- and woodwork, tailoring, forging, weaving etc. This kind of education enables students to think and act independently with great interest in progress and development of culture and society. There are buildings for different workshops and a huge garden for growing vegetables and also for playing on the property. As an answer to the refugee crisis the association Sekem and the FWS-Graz established an international class in 2016 for unaccompanied minor refugees to offer them education and transmit cultural values.