IB Primary Years or Waldorf / Steiner?

The difference between IB Primary Years and Waldorf / Steiner is mostly one axis: technology at school. IB Primary Years sits toward built in from the start; Waldorf / Steiner sits firmly toward kept out until late. They agree, more than most people expect, on who directs the day and money and distance. Neither is the correct one. What follows is what each asks of a parent, and where the difference actually shows up on a Tuesday.

IB Primary Years

Children investigate big transdisciplinary questions rather than subjects, within a framework that is specified in considerable detail. It is the most internationally portable education available, built for families who may move, and it is explicit about wanting to produce a certain kind of person — open-minded, inquiring, principled — which is an admirable aim and also a worldview.

What it asks of you

Fees almost everywhere, and usually substantial ones
Comfort with a school that states the disposition it is trying to produce
Tolerance for a lot of process language — the framework is heavily specified
A reason to want portability, or you are paying for something you will not use

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

IB Primary Years is the filled marker, Waldorf / Steiner the hollow one. Widest difference first.

E3Technology at school

kept out until latebuilt in from the start

IB Primary Years sits toward built in from the start; Waldorf / Steiner sits firmly toward kept out until late.

V3What it is for

childhood is the pointit should set up university and a career

IB Primary Years sits toward it should set up university and a career; Waldorf / Steiner sits toward childhood is the point.

L2When formal academics start

when the child is ready, and late is fineearly, and ambitiously

IB Primary Years sits a little toward early, and ambitiously; Waldorf / Steiner sits firmly toward when the child is ready, and late is fine.

L3Measuring it

no grades, no testsgraded and tested regularly

IB Primary Years sits between the two; Waldorf / Steiner sits firmly toward no grades, no tests.

E2Outdoors and the body

learning happens at a tableoutdoors and hands-on is the point

IB Primary Years sits between the two; Waldorf / Steiner sits toward outdoors and hands-on is the point.

V1A view of the world

school should stay neutralschool should teach a view of the world

IB Primary Years sits a little toward school should teach a view of the world; Waldorf / Steiner sits firmly toward school should teach a view of the world.

C1What the family can put inwhat your life allows

school has to run without the parentsbeing in it, daily

IB Primary Years sits between the two; Waldorf / Steiner sits toward being in it, daily.

V2Who else is there

a broad, mixed intake matters mosta community that shares our values matters most

IB Primary Years sits a little toward a broad, mixed intake matters most; Waldorf / Steiner sits toward a community that shares our values matters most.

E1Mixed ages

classes of the same agemixed-age groups

IB Primary Years sits toward classes of the same age; Waldorf / Steiner sits a little toward classes of the same age.

Where they agree

Usually more than the argument between them suggests.

Who directs the day. Both sit toward timetabled, and directed by adults.
Money and distance. Both sit toward we can pay, and we can travel.

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