In honor of the decades of dedication that Kate Walter and Michael Wright have offered to Waldorf education, the Charlottesville Waldorf School is proud to introduce the Walter-Wright Teacher Scholarship Fund to support educators in obtaining full certification in Waldorf education.
The very first Waldorf teacher training was provided by Rudolf Steiner to the group of teachers selected to run the first Waldorf School in 1919. “This original Waldorf teacher training was brief: it lasted only two weeks. It was understood by those who attended, however, that Waldorf education was to be based upon the continuing training or self-education of the teacher, and that this was only the beginning of that process.” (introduction by Craig Giddens to Steiner’s “Discussions with Teachers”, Anthroposophic Press). This idea of continuous education–for the teacher as well as for the student–is still important to the Waldorf curriculum, where teachers often move through the grades and must continuously be learning and renewing their understanding of the content.
Waldorf teacher training programs have grown a lot since those first lectures, with full teacher-training programs including a Masters of Education in Waldorf education now available, but unfortunately the cost of training can be prohibitive to many who are interested and willing to take up this work. Charlottesville Waldorf School is committed to supporting our teachers in their education and the Walter Wright Teacher Scholarship Fund is a first step in demonstrating this responsibility.
Kate Walter and Michael Wright have been deeply committed to Waldorf education since the early 1980s, working at schools in the United States and Canada and developing relationships and friendships with the Waldorf community world-wide. Kate was involved in the very early days of the Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School in Viroqua, Wisconsin, where she formed the development committee and laid a strong foundation of community outreach and involvement that is remarkable in that school to this day. Michael also joined PRWS in its early days as a teacher. Read more about Michael and Kate and their Waldorf history in the CWS Seasonal Journal here >
The Walter-Wright Teacher Scholarship fund has been named in honor of Michael and Kate because of their sincere and abiding dedication to Waldorf education and their ongoing commitment to supporting teachers and students. They were instrumental in the process of obtaining funding that allowed CWS to start this project, which we hope will continue to grow and provide for the education of many more inspired educators in years to come.
