The Section – Frequently Asked Questions

The Section for Inclusive Social Development is a faculty of the School of Spiritual Science (Goetheanum). The School of Spiritual Science is an independent university, founded by Rudolf Steiner during the Christmas Conference 1923/24, and carried by the General Anthroposophical Society. Its core tasks are (1) research, including through spiritual-scientific (contemplative) methods of inquiry, (2) personal and professional development, including through inner (esoteric, contemplative) pathways of practice, and (3) building communities of practitioners to facilitate professional exchange, peer consultation, research and development in the various professional fields. The Section for Inclusive Social Development takes up those tasks in the context of the interdisciplinary field of supportive education and inclusive social development, encompassing special needs education, early intervention, inclusive education, social work, social therapy, social pedagogy, inclusive community building (through intentional communities and through inclusive processes in the wider community) and related disciplines oriented towards supports for persons with disabilities or otherwise at risk of marginalization.

The Section for Inclusive Social Development has a Leadership Team, consisting of the Head of the Section, who is appointed by the Collegium of the School of Spiritual Science (Goetheanum Leadership) and two additional members, who are jointly responsible for the Section’s work as a whole. The Head of the Section is a member of the Goetheanum Leadership. The Leadership Team is supported by an administrative office, which is also responsible for managing the Section’s supporting organization, the ‘Fonds für Heilpädagogik und Sozialtherapie Dornach’. A Delegates’ Circle and various standing Working Groups connect the worldwide community of practitioners in the Section’s field of work and facilitate active collaboration on various themes and questions under the umbrella of the Section. Each organ of the Section is free to determine its own way of working and organize its own processes of collaboration, while maintaining active contact and collaboration with the Leadership Team. This is the case equally for Working Groups, Project Groups and for the networks of practitioners in the Section’s field that form in various countries or regions. A more detailed organizational description can be found in the Section’s Organizational Document.

When communicating in German, please use the German name: Sektion für Heilpädagogik und inklusive soziale Entwicklung. When communicating in any other language, please us the English name: Section for Inclusive Social Development. While the field of supportive and therapeutic education is definitely included within the scope of the Section’s work, the term “Heilpädagogik” has a specific history and is established as a professional term in the German-speaking world but does not translate directly into other contexts. Anthroposophic practitioners in the disabilities field are encouraged to adopt and use appropriate professional designations that are generally understood and recognized in their respective context of practice.

The professional community of practitioners of the Section is open to participation by Members of the School of Spiritual Science and by those who are not (yet) Members in the formal sense but feel aligned with this professional community and want to seek collaboration on that basis. Those who have made the personal commitment of Membership in the School of Spiritual Science, and to active engagement with the contemplative path of the so-called ‘First (Foundational) Class’ in the General Anthroposophical Section, play an important role within the work of the Section. They share in the responsibility for the School of Spiritual Science and carry the conscious link between the Section’s professionally oriented work and the generally human foundations of personal development cultivated in the General Anthroposophical Section.

Members of the Section’s Leadership Team are required to be Members of the School of Spiritual Science. Also, participation in working groups or projects that work with the material of the ‘First (Foundational) Class’ of the General Anthroposophical Section in relation to the Section’s professional field is contingent on Membership in the School of Spiritual Science. Other than that, collaboration in the Delegates’ Circle, in Working Groups or participation in projects of the Section is not formally contingent on Membership in the School of Spiritual Science.

Admission as a member of the School of Spiritual Science is through the General Anthroposophical Section. Membership also includes entry into the ‘First (Foundational) Class’ of the General Anthroposophical Section, which was initiated by Rudolf Steiner as an introduction to a meditative path of schooling with the founding of the School of Spiritual Science. Information about the admission process can be obtained from the General Anthroposophical Section.You are also welcome to contact Bart Vanmechelen, a member of the Leadership Team of the Section for Inclusive Social Development. We would be very happy to accompany you in this process!

All country/regional networks that are represented in the Delegates’ Circle support the work of the Section and its international professional collaboration through an annual financial contribution. These contributions are determined through an open and transparent process and reported to the Delegates annually, as part of the Section’s annual report. Each country/regional network assesses its possibilities and makes its commitment on the basis of its size, relative economic strength and possibilities, and is accountable to the Delegates’ Circle to meet this mutual commitment to the best of its ability. This solidarity-based funding model provides that funding basis for the work of the Section. Additional funding comes from project grants through foundations, which have to be actively pursued, and there is a small contribution from the General Anthroposophical Society that makes up less than 10% of the Section’s annual budget. Revenues from activities, such as publications and conferences, typically only partly cover the costs of those activities. In other words, the Section and its professional community are responsible, together, for raising the funds each year that make our collaboration under the umbrella of the Section possible!

Functioning Working Groups and country/regional networks are invited to name a Delegate to actively and responsibly carry the link between the country/regional network of practitioners and the wider community of practitioners collaborating under the umbrella of the Section, as well as the Section’s Leadership Team. Such nominations must be accepted by the Section’s Leadership Team. In the absence of a functioning country/regional network with the ability to name a Delegate or Delegates through a process that includes all relevant stakeholders in the country/region, the Leadership Team may co-opt an active colleague or colleagues to carry the liaison role until a sufficiently stable and functional country/regional network develops. Here you will find an overview of the current members of the Delegates’ Circle.

Thematic Working Groups of the Section (e.g., Social Therapy Working Group, International Training Circle, Working Group on Supportive Education and Inclusion in Schools …) can be formed at the initiative of the Leadership Team, or at the initiative of members of the Delegates’ Circle, or through some other initiative within the field of the Section, taken in communication and coordination with a member of the Leadership Team. Once established, Working Groups organize themselves, determine their own tasks and ways of working, and also set their own processes for including additional colleagues in the work of the group. They name a speaker, who serves as primary point of contact for interested parties and represents the Working Group in the Delegates’ Circle. Each thematic Working Group is also supported by a member of the Leadership Team, who may be a full participant in the group or serve as the group’s liaison in the Leadership Team.

Besides thematic Working Groups, the Delegates from some geographic regions have chosen to establish regional working groups, to facilitate regional collaboration. These include KRUG (a network of training centers in the Eastern European and Central Asian region), the LATAM Council (for the network in Latin America) and the Asia-Pacific Network Group. The primary responsibility for such regional working groups rests with the Delegates from the respective region. Just like any other working group, these groups organize themselves, determine their own tasks and ways of working, and also set their own processes for including additional colleagues from their regions in the work of the group, or in activities (such as regional conferences, projects, etc.) organized by the group. They name a speaker, who serves as primary point of contact for interested parties. As with the thematic Working Groups, each Regional Working Group is connected with a member of the Leadership Team as its primary contact person.

All currently active thematic and regional working groups can be found on the Section’s website, under ‘Collaboration’.

The School of Spiritual Science is a transnational research, education and development community that has its center at the Goetheanum in Dornach (CH) but is active worldwide. The same applies to its specialist sections (faculties) for their respective fields of expertise. This means that there are no separate sections in different countries. However, working arrangements within the section can also be formed on a geographical basis. These can be understood as working groups of the Section for Inclusive Social Development, as long as they are in active contact with the section’s leadership team and are recognized as such by them. Such national or regional working groups are then working groups of the Section, in line with the principles set out above. If they appoint one or more representatives in consultation with the Section’s leadership team, these representatives can also develop regular cooperation with similar working groups from other professional sections. Such interdisciplinary working groups exist, for example, in the UK, North America (USA & Canada) and the Netherlands. They are usually also supported by the Anthroposophical Society in its role as the supporting organization of the School of Spiritual Science. These working groups and their representatives work in the spirit of the School’s research and educational mission. They have no mandate to represent the network of professional organizations in their country or to communicate on their behalf. Communications on behalf of the Section, if they go beyond the self-directed activities of the working group, must be coordinated with the leadership of the Section. Whether the formation of such a working relationship in a country or region makes sense, and in what form, should be determined in consultation with the leadership of the Section.

The International Training Circle is a Working Group of the Section for Inclusive Social Development. It facilitates the worldwide collaboration of professional education and training centers and initiatives with an anthroposophic orientation in the field of work of the Section. It is also responsible for the recognition process by which professional education programs in the Section’s field can gain formal recognition through the Section. This process is voluntary and consists of a peer-review process, which has to be renewed every five years. A training center that has successfully gone through this peer review process and is committed to active collaboration as a member of the International Training Circle is allowed to describe itself as “Recognized by the Section for Inclusive Social Development of the School of Spiritual Science (Goetheanum)”. It is also authorized to include this statement on the diplomas and certificates that it issues to its graduates. This recognition signifies that the training center is actively affiliated with the Section, has opened itself up to review and feedback from faculty members of other recognized training centers, and is committed to a process of ongoing development within the context of the International Training Circle, based on a set of shared principles. (You can find additional information on the ‘International Training Circle’ and the Recognition Process under ‘International Training Circle’.)

Recognition of a professional education or training program by the Section does not imply that one recognized training is the equivalent of another. Trainings in our field encompass many different formats, levels and areas of specialization. Therefore, recognition is not based on a standardized curriculum and is not intended as a statement of equivalency.

Recognition of a training by the Section does not mean that the training is recognized by an academic, state or government authority. While trainings are often tied into various national qualification systems, this is not always the case. In some cases, trainings recognized by the Section fill gaps in a national qualification system for which no form of public recognition exists. In other cases, they may function as a form of continuing, further or advanced professional education that aims at deepening professional practice but does not lead to an additional formal qualification. This must be determined on a case-by-case basis, within the context of the respective qualifications system and regulatory environment. Additionally, training centers that do not carry recognition by the Section may also offer high quality trainings and qualifications – they simply haven’t chosen to demonstrate this within the context of the Section’s peer network, and to commit to this pathway of peer review and development.

Whether an anthroposophical organization chooses to employ only professionals, whose diplomas carry the Section’s recognition, or also those who may have other qualifications, is up to each organization (and to the criteria pertaining to their membership in other professional organizations, which may decide to require this). There is no requirement or expectation on part of the Section that only those who hold a qualification that is recognized by the Section practice within the Section’s interdisciplinary field of work. Since it has a research and education task, and does not function as a professional association through which practice centers collaborate under a set of defined guidelines, it also does not have a mandate to establish such requirements. However, no training center may represent itself as ‘recognized’ by the Section without having successfully gone through the International Training Circle’s peer review process, and individuals may only represent their qualification as ‘recognized’ by the Section, if their training center held such recognition at the time that their diploma was issued.

All professionals in the field of the Section are encouraged to sign up for the free email newsletter, which contains periodic information about conferences, publications, and other activities. This is the main entry point for communication. You can register here.

The quarterly professional journal ‘Anthroposophic Perspectives in Inclusive Social Development’ is published in English and German and can be subscribed to here.

Please also follow the Section on social media (@inclusivesocial on Instagram and Facebook).

To find out more about specific Working Groups and how to get involved, please reach out to the contact person listed for the respective group.

For any other questions, you can always contact the Section’s office in Dornach and the Leadership Team: inclusivesocial@goetheanum.ch.