The test of any teaching can be found only in life itself.

Erwin Berney,
educaredo founder

The test of any teaching can be found only in life itself.

Erwin Berney,
educaredo founder

EduCareDo is a Non-profit organisation established in 2001 that pioneered independent distance education courses in Anthroposophy

Beginnings

EduCareDo’s Foundations in Anthroposophy by Erwin Berney was published in 2001 upon Erwin’s retirement from tutoring at Sydney Rudolf Steiner College where he was a founding member of Australia’s first Orientation Course and Teacher Training in Anthroposophy. Erwin recognised the need for experiential guidance and flexible learning outside of institutions so that anthroposophy could be accessible to all and taken up as deeply and broadly as the student may choose at any point in their lives. Read more about Erwin’s life and work →

Enlivening and Applying

As Erwin gave more focus to EduCareDo’s growth, Lisa Romero stepped into Erwin’s tutoring responsibility at the College and also supported the establishment of EduCareDo. For seven years Lisa extended the EduCareDo Foundations in Anthroposophy course lessons with an annual series of seven weekend intensives called Towards Health and Healing. Over this time hundreds of parents, educators and health practitioners engaged in the course gatherings around Australia. During this period Lisa began to develop Inner Work Path to enliven meditation and inner development. The EduCareDo directors met during these studies and formed Developing the Self Developing the World, becoming guardians of EduCareDo in 2016. Inner Work Path is central to the online gatherings in preparation for the new mysteries throughout the spiritual year that are hosted by EduCareDo.

Anthroposophy for All

Since its beginnings of sending lessons via the post, the Foundations in Anthroposophy course has reached cities and remote regions, supporting educators, parents, farmers, health practitioners, architects, artists, seekers and activists. From early on, study groups formed as communities utilised the course as the basis for in-house teacher training. Likewise its potential was recognised by parents seeking flexibility, affordability and depth of understanding in the underpinnings of their child’s education. Erwin encouraged local study groups to form in areas by offering a free enrolment for every 7th enrolment, and this offer continues to this day.

Some organisations have partnered with EduCareDo and utilise courses as part of their traineeships. One such partnership is with Biodynamics North America (now the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance) who in 2017 began to utilise the Foundations in Anthroposophy course as the primary basis for the Farmer Foundation Year training.

EduCareDo gifts the Foundations in Anthroposophy course to people incarcerated in prisons in Nort h America and Canada. Meanwhile course enrolment fees continue to evolve the development of the courses as well as fund scholarships and contribute to youth offerings by the Y Project.

Contributors do not work for a wage to ensure courses remain consistently accessible to all who come towards them.

Anthroposophic Prison Outreach North America
Anthroposophic Prison Outreach Canada
Fiji Waldorf School EduCareDo Study Group
Mount Barker Waldorf School held numerous weekly study groups for 50+ staff during COVID
Little Yarra Waldorf School EduCareDo Study Group
Darwin EduCareDo Study Group

Illustration by Ella Lapointe – Whispering-Grow-2

Unfolding and Expanding

The Foundations in Anthroposophy course has continued to bring meaningful experiences of spiritual science.

2020 saw the addition of second-year courses focusing on exploring self development for world development through particular subjects such as the arts, agriculture, education, social three folding, and meditation. With the Foundations in Anthroposophy course well established as a self-directed distance education offering, through these new offerings EduCareDo was able to continue to grow and support individuals and schools throughout the changes and restrictions placed on communities worldwide.

In 2024, EduCareDo has taken another step into a third year for those who have completed or are consistently engaged with a second-year subject course and are ready and willing to work more deeply with the esoteric pictures from courses at in-person intensives.