CANTERBURY (NNA) – A new Masters degree course in Steiner education looks set to be launched at Canterbury Christ Church University in England.            

The programme, which has been set up in collaboration with the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship by John Burnett, programme director of the Steiner Waldorf BA degree at Plymouth University, and Alan Swindell acting on behalf of the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship, has now successfully completed the initial stages of preparation.

According to an announcement by the two organisers, the design of the new programme has been agreed and will have advanced to formal validation by the university’s approval committee in the very near future.

“The academic team are confident that it will be possible for recruitment for the new programme to begin shortly and for the programme to launch with the introductory module at October 2012,” Burnett and Swindell said.

“This exciting new Masters programme has been long in the making and represents a new development in higher education. It provides a unique opportunity for people interested in Steiner Waldorf education to meet and explore together the deeper aspects of this approach to teaching,” they added.

According to the announcement, the course is designed to be suitable for a range of participants: practitioners in Steiner schools will have the opportunity to share practical experience,  professional insights and questions with “mainstream colleagues wanting to know more about the core ideas informing the Waldorf approach”.

“People with a pedagogical interest in care and special education will have the opportunity to contribute research questions from their particular perspective.”

Participants will be encouraged to undertake deep preparatory reading, the organisers say, and will be invited to engage in focused debate and research activity centred around contemporary educational issues: “A central aspect of this work will be a critical exploration of the role Steiner education might play in an uncertain world of shifting paradigms and social disintegration.”

The Masters, which will be taught over three years, has been designed to fit into the work pattern of busy teachers and education professionals. There will be three residentials per year and participants will be expected to submit two 4,000 word assignments each year and a substantial final dissertation in their final year. The award will be an MA in Education (Steiner Waldorf).

More details about module content and assessment criteria will be made available after formal validation.

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Item: 110919-01EN Date: 19 September 2011

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