Trevor Mepham
trevor.mepham@lineone.net
In August 2002 the European Commission awarded a grant of 320,000 Euros to a team of Steiner Waldorf teacher education centres to design a flexible, school-based European Masters Programme in Waldorf Education. The European Commission was enthusiastic about a project to strengthen links between school communities in different countries, and support the development of a "culture of enquiry", amongst Waldorf practitioners on a European level. The project began in November 2002 and runs for three years. The Lead Partner is the University of Plymouth. The other four partners in the project are: Solymar Institute, Budapest, Hungary: Witten-Annen Seminar, Germany; Stockholm Seminar, Sweden and Helicon Hogeschool, Zeist, Holland.
In the spring of 2004, the University approved a new programme: A Foundation Degree in Steiner Waldorf Early Childhood Education. This new programme offers opportunities for Early Years Practitioners and teaching assistants to achieve a professional qualification. The first group of students began their studies in September at Exmouth. For the most part they come from the northern half of the country and will study in York and Stourbridge, as Plymouth students! This is the long arm of post-modernism.
