Education as Preventive Medicine: A Salutogenic Approach

A great reference book on how the teacher and the doctor can work together to foster good health from birth through the teen years. The contributions to this book are from school physicians, who point in the direction suggested by Rudolf Steiner, while modern research into salutogenesis and resilience has provided validation and corroboration for those ideas. Salutogenesis means inquiry into the origin of health. This thinking and approach represents a new paradigm and direction for research.

How and when something is taught affects the student’s lifelong disposition toward health or illness. The Waldorf curriculum is based on an understanding of the development and physiology of children, and healthy development of the physical body is the basis for healthy development of their soul-spiritual individuality. This suggests that it is of great importance for doctors and teachers to work together.