School choice

Reggio Emilia or Waldorf / Steiner?

The difference between Reggio Emilia and Waldorf / Steiner is mostly one axis: where the curriculum comes from. Reggio Emilia sits firmly toward it emerges from the children; Waldorf / Steiner sits toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance. They agree, more than most people expect, on what the family can put in, measuring it and what it is for. Neither is the correct one. What follows is what each asks of a parent, and where the difference actually shows up on a Tuesday.

Reggio Emilia

There is no curriculum set in advance. Teachers watch what a group of children is drawn to, document it obsessively, and build long projects out of it — which may run for months. The environment is treated as a third teacher, expression takes a hundred forms, and the documentation on the walls is the record of the thinking rather than display work.

What it asks of you

  • Tolerating genuine uncertainty about what your child will study this term
  • A school with the staffing to do it, since the method is expensive in adult attention
  • Reading the documentation, which is where the learning is visible and is easy to walk past
  • Accepting it is an early-years approach; few Reggio schools run past six

Waldorf / Steiner

Childhood is divided into seven-year stages and the curriculum follows them: imaginative play and practical work before seven, then formal reading and writing, with art, music and craft running through everything. The day and the year have a firm rhythm, the same teacher usually stays with a class for years, and screens are kept out entirely.

What it asks of you

  • Holding your nerve while children elsewhere are reading and yours is not yet
  • Accepting an explicit worldview — anthroposophy is in the foundations, whatever a given school says about it
  • Real participation: festivals, crafts, and a good deal of parent presence
  • Fees, in most countries
Side by side

Where they differ

Reggio Emilia is the filled marker, Waldorf / Steiner the hollow one. Widest difference first.

L4Where the curriculum comes from
it emerges from the childrena fixed body of knowledge, set in advance

Reggio Emilia sits firmly toward it emerges from the children; Waldorf / Steiner sits toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance.

V1A view of the world
school should stay neutralschool should teach a view of the world

Reggio Emilia sits a little toward school should stay neutral; Waldorf / Steiner sits firmly toward school should teach a view of the world.

L1Who directs the day
the child chooses what to dotimetabled, and directed by adults

Reggio Emilia sits toward the child chooses what to do; Waldorf / Steiner sits toward timetabled, and directed by adults.

E3Technology at school
kept out until latebuilt in from the start

Reggio Emilia sits between the two; Waldorf / Steiner sits firmly toward kept out until late.

L5What a teacher is
a guide who steps backan authority who instructs

Reggio Emilia sits toward a guide who steps back; Waldorf / Steiner sits a little toward an authority who instructs.

V2Who else is there
a broad, mixed intake matters mosta community that shares our values matters most

Reggio Emilia sits between the two; Waldorf / Steiner sits toward a community that shares our values matters most.

L2When formal academics start
when the child is ready, and late is fineearly, and ambitiously

Reggio Emilia sits toward when the child is ready, and late is fine; Waldorf / Steiner sits firmly toward when the child is ready, and late is fine.

Where they agree

Usually more than the argument between them suggests.

  • What the family can put in. Both sit toward being in it, daily.
  • Measuring it. Both sit firmly toward no grades, no tests.
  • What it is for. Both sit toward childhood is the point.
  • Money and distance. Both sit toward we can pay, and we can travel.
  • Mixed ages. Both sit between the two.
  • Outdoors and the body. Both sit toward outdoors and hands-on is the point.

Neither of these is the correct one

Which fits depends on what you value and on what your week actually allows — and the second of those is the half nobody writes about. The questionnaire scores both.

See which one you are already doing