The report, ‘Meeting the child’, written by Mary Jane Drummond and Sally Jenkinson, draws on classroom observations and interviews with kindergarten teachers in Hereford, Cambridge and Bristol and focuses on  the Steiner approach to observation and assessment.

‘Meeting the Child’ will be released at a launch at the Institute of Education in London on 23 November. It will then be presented to the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ Academies Division.

Professor Michael Totterdell, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education, and Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University, said: “This is an important piece of research, the result of a joint investigation between Steiner and mainstream educators.

The text and research are particularly original and will prove stimulating for teachers, academics and policy-makers considering the relevance of Steiner principles in future education development.”

This is the first publication from a research project which has been jointly run by the Faculty of Education at the University of Plymouth, the Steiner Academy and independent consultants.

The report demonstrates that other educators may have valuable lessons to learn from the Steiner kindergarten teachers’ distinctive approach to developing a full and detailed knowledge of each individual child.

Professor Totterdell added: “It is remarkable in the way it characterises children and their teachers in an informal setting where there are no specified learning outcomes, set curriculum or skills expectation.

It presents a powerful picture of what can happen when teachers consciously step back from directing classroom events, while providing a rich, structured environment in which the child’s essential nature can develop.”

From: University of Plymouth Press release – November 2009