New German Text Edition of the Course on Education for Special Needs

We are very pleased that the long-awaited new German text edition of Rudolf Steiner’s Course on ‘Education for Special Needs’ (GA 317) has now been released!

This course took place 100 years ago with a small circle of people in the Carpentry Hall at the Goetheanum in Dornach. It became a source of inspiration and the starting point for the development of our worldwide network in anthroposophically oriented supportive education and inclusive social development. A project initiated by Jan Göschel and Rüdiger Grimm under the umbrella of the Anthroposophic Council for Inclusive Social Development has now made it possible to produce a new version of the text, thoroughly revised from the ground up on the basis of the sources and extensively annotated, which has been prepared by Anne Weise as editor at the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung. The new volume also contains extensive primary materials and explanatory notes on the context and genesis of the text. The result is a textual basis that remains as close as possible to the surviving sources, allows the oral style of the course to reappear, makes unclear or uncertain passages recognizable, and situates the text in its historical context. The new edition is warmly recommended to all who work with this course!

A companion volume to the course, developed through the same project, will soon also be released. It will discuss the main themes and content strands of the course through contributions from various authors and is intended to stand alongside this new text edition, to facilitate working with the course.