December 2017
Dear Colleagues and Friends,  

In this issue we are focusing on special treasures whose value is easily overlooked.
In the article by Holly Koteen-Soule, the treasure is stillness -  ( "Just as clean air makes it possible to breathe, silence makes it possible to think. What if we saw attention in the same way that we saw air or water, as a valuable resource?" ).
In the article by Bahardocht Naderi Tabrizi it is the quality of "Safa", something unknown in the western world, but occasionally perceived by Waldorf early childhood educators -  the child's sensory-religious feeling of being protected. 
And in the article on the world early childhood conference in 2019, it is the quality of relationships among the adults who care for children. 

In the holidays now at the turning of the year, we wish you the joy of discovering these and many other gifts! 

With warm wishes on behalf of the IASWECE Coordinating Group
Philipp Reubke
Waldorf Early Childhood Education Worldwide
Impressions from Iran - 


Where no 'Safa' could be found, no one would want to go...
Bahardocht Naderi Tabrizi  
 
Read more
    
 
                         
 
"Friends of the Child and the Family" in Isfahan 
Bahardocht Naderi Tabrizi 
 



 
Workshops in Waldorf Education in Tehran
Leila Alemi
 
Waldorf Education in Spain
Antonio Malagon

News from "Tenaquip", Madagascar
Kathy Lucking
 

Partnership "Casita de Luz"
"Tenaquip"

Current Pedagogical Issues  
Attention to Attention!
A growing need for educators and parents in the digital age
Holly Koteen-Soule

"Attention is a primary factor in both parenting and education. We talk about "paying attention, "attention-getting behavior," and "attention deficit disorder," for example. Most generally speaking, attention could be understood as a basic constituent and function of human consciousness.
 
From this point of view, what does it mean, for us and our children, that technology has "grabbed our attention?"
 
The author of this very fundamental article points out a phenomenon that is often ignored in the discussions of digital media: Young children imitate the tendency of the adults around them to be constantly distracted. She pleads that we not forget one of the most important tasks of educating young children: practicing the ability to direct one's own thoughts. 

News from IASWECE
IASWECE Council Meeting in Barcelona
Ulrike Farnleitner and Silvia Jensen

Impressions from the meeting and list of the projects IASWECE will support in 2018. 

Waldorf/Rudolf Steiner Education for the First Seven Years of Life:             World Conference at the Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland
April 15-19, 2019
 
 
Prepared by the IASWECE Council in collaboration with the Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum.
 
 
Collaboration with Other Organizations
Waldorf 100 

 
Are only schools actually preparing to celebrate 100 Years of Waldorf Education?

On the contrary! There are many suggestions for early childhood programs and kindergartens. A summary and flyers in German, English and Spanish can be found on the  IASWECE Website.
Conferences

2018 WECAN Early Childhood February Conference: The Development of Speech and the Human Encounter
With Dr. Lakshmi Prasanna and Michael Kokinos. Spring Valley, NY, 9 - 11th February, and Whidbey Island, WA, 16 - 18 February, 2018.
 
Truth, Beauty and Goodness: The Future of Education, Healing Arts and Health Care    17 - 20  February, 2018, Honolulu Waldorf School, Hawaii. Conference with Michaela Glöckler and others.
 
 
Whitsun Conference: Creative education as a necessity of our times. With Claus Peter Röh, Michaela Glöckler and others. Conference languages: German and English. 19 - 22 May, 2018, Hannover, Germany. 
 
 Please contact us at info@iaswece.org if you would like to announce a conference in our Newsletter or on our website. 
Links to Research and News Reports

Helicopter parents who put their children on a pedestal are to blame for them still living at home at 25, according to an expert mentioned in an article by Sarah Harris in the
Daily Mail, on 8 December 2017. "Professor Lancy believes the West should look at other cultures and their more 'natural' ways of rearing children. He said: 'I think one of the greatest things that we've lost, which you become aware of in a village in somewhere like Papua New Guinea, (is that) children have learned from watching other people do stuff. I mean building things, making things, working out of doors, watching adults work on the farm. Even before children's attention was captured 24/7 by social media and video games, play had moved indoors, partly for safety concerns, the overprotection issue."
"If I were a parent (or teacher) of children now, I would make sure that they had opportunities to watch. Then even better, to pitch in, help out.' 
This article and others can be found on the IASWECE Website.
 
You can find many articles on the theme of "Digital Media and Education" on the ELIANT Website . 

In Memoriam
Memories of Johanna-Veronika Picht 
(23 September 1922 -  2 October 2017) 
Joan Almon

A beloved pioneer of the Waldorf kindergarten movement. Read a remembrance
How You Can Help
I ASWECE provides financial and pedagogical support to projects in order to develop and foster the quality of Waldorf early childhood education all over the world. 

 
Sponsors

Contact
The IASWECE Newsletter is published on behalf of the IASWECE Council by Philipp Reubke, with support from Clara Aerts, Susan Howard and Lara Radysh. 

Country Projects, Partnerships and Support:  
Clara Aerts, Belgium 
Tel 0032 498 223 281
 
Membership, Working Groups, and World List:  
Susan Howard, USA   
Tel 001 413 549 593                                                             
             
Conferences, Country Projects, Newsletter  
Philipp Reubke, France  
Tel 0033 977 197 137