Clearing the Path: Supporting Every Child’s Journey
Online International Conference for All Waldorf Subject Teachers
July 13 - 16, 2026
9:00 am to 3:00 pm Pacific Time
See below for special school team discounts!
"Our rightful place as educators is to be removers of hindrances. Each child in every age brings something new into the world from divine regions, and it is our task to remove bodily and psychical obstacles out of their way, to remove hindrances so that their spirit may enter in full freedom into life."
—Rudolf Steiner
Children are arriving in our classrooms with increasingly diverse ways of learning, sensing, and engaging with the world. What can sometimes be experienced as distraction, resistance, or misbehavior often carries a deeper story—one that asks us to look more closely and respond with greater understanding.
This conference is an invitation into that work.
Together, we will explore diversity in learning, sensory processing, and inclusive teaching practices through a Waldorf lens. We will revisit familiar principles with fresh eyes, asking how we can better recognize the underlying causes of struggle and meet each child with clarity, warmth, and respect.
When we begin to understand the language of the child—their sensory needs, their stress responses, their unique ways of learning—we are able to shift from reaction to relationship. From correction to connection. And from there, something new becomes possible.
A Conference for the Whole Faculty
Special subject teachers are an essential part of Waldorf education. When we come together—class teachers, subject teachers, and homeschool educators—we begin to see the child more fully.
This conference is designed to support that shared work, strengthening collaboration across disciplines and deepening our collective capacity to meet the children in our care.
Conference Highlights
Mornings: All Subjects Together:
Each morning we gather as a full community to hear from internationally renowned keynote speakers, offering insight, inspiration, and a shared foundation for the day.
Afternoons: Subject-Specific Sessions:
In the afternoons, we move into focused work with colleagues in our disciplines.
Special sessions for Handwork, Music, Movement, and World Language teachers will include subject-specific keynotes along with practical, hands-on experiences you can bring directly into your classroom.
Collaboration Across Subjects:
Each day includes opportunities to connect across subjects—sharing perspectives, building understanding, and strengthening the threads that weave a healthy school community together.
What You’ll Take With You
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A deeper understanding of neurodiversity and sensory needs
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Practical tools for supporting regulation, focus, and readiness for learning
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New ways to create inclusive, differentiated classrooms in every subject
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Greater confidence in meeting a wide range of learners
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Meaningful connection with an international community of educators
Join us this July!
This is a time to pause, reflect, and renew your work as an educator. A time to deepen your understanding and reconnect with purpose. A time to come together in support of every child’s journey.
Full details and schedule coming soon!
Internationally Renowned Keynote Speakers
Ann began her professional life as a music therapist in the US before travelling to Emerson College, UK to undertake the Waldorf teacher training course there. After 5 years as a class teacher in London, the riddles posed by those atypical learners and learning in general began to occupy her more and more. Following a “remedial” teacher training, she worked for 17 years as a Special Needs Teacher at Michael Hall in Sussex, UK branching out to other Steiner schools in the UK and offering Special Needs content on adult teacher training courses.
Her passion is to better understand “what’s Waldorf about Waldorf” and how a child of today, regardless of their learning style and needs, can be supported to thrive in our schools.
Ann Swain
Alice Hoyle runs Sense and Connect an education consultancy specialising in Sensory Inclusion (Sense) and Relationships, Health and Sex Education (RSHE) (Connect). She is a neurodivergent (ND) mum of 3 supporting varying levels of sensory needs in her ND family. Having worked in schools as a teacher, Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) lead, Youth Worker and Local Education Authority (LEA) Education Adviser for two decades, she is very aware how sensory needs are hugely misunderstood and neglected across many mainstream schools. She is co-author of The Sensory Aware Early Years Toolkit (out Nov 2026), Becoming a Sensory-Aware School: A Toolkit to Develop a Whole School Approach for Sensory Wellbeing (2025) and Great Relationships and Sex Education 200+ Activities for Educators Working with Young People (2019). Alice is based in Bath, UK.
Alice Hoyle
Kristin Palen is an occupational therapist with over 19 years of experience solely in pediatrics. Kristin is the owner of Coastal Connections Pediatric Therapy, in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. Her practice provides direct nature based occupational therapy services, nature based parent resources, and homeschool coaching. Kristin uses a holistic and eclectic approach in her OT practice, ensuring that a family’s needs are met which resonates well with Waldorf Education. Her specialties are sensory integration, self-regulation and co-regulation. As a Waldorf homeschooler in a neurodiverse family, Kristin particularly enjoys supporting and coaching fellow neurodiverse homeschool families to adapt, accommodate and meet the needs of their children.
Website: www.coastalconnectionsot.com
Kristin Palen
Special School Team Pricing - Re-enliven the picture of a whole school model!
With this as our goal we offer special pricing for school teams! Unify your team by joining together for this unique opportunity.
Individual Full Day Ticket:
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Regular price $400 USD
Early Bird Ticket:
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Register before May 25, 2026 $350 USD
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Save $50!
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Use coupon code ClearBird at checkout
2 Pack
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Send two subject teachers or assistants from the same school
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Buy one get one 50% off - Save $200!
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Use coupon code 2PackClear at checkout
4 Pack
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Send four subject teachers or assistants from the same school
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Total $1,000 USD - Save $600!
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Use coupon code 4PackClear at checkout
