In summary:

• we run through the latest news on our Postgraduate Diploma in Waldorf Education and Creative Pedagogies for qualified teachers that we run in partnership with Bath Spa University;
• we share a change of members in our board, with appreciation for those stepping down and excitement for those stepping forward, as we look to long-term systems change across education, and our support for the infrastructure, relevance and resilience of Waldorf Education and creative learning;
• we offer an introduction to our applications for research and project grants as part of a fundraising strategy; and finally
• we summarise the steady progress being made with our research goals into multisensory integration.

You can:

• Download our new, free, creative learning resources (for teachers);
• Meet new members of our board of trustees;
• Donate anything from the equivalent of a cup of coffee for the team, a training bursary for a qualified teacher, or capital funds to support our work towards long-term systemic change by getting in touch.

Fifth cohort

The fifth intake of our postgraduate programme, delivered with Bath Spa University, started with the biggest and farthest-flung cohort yet. Seventeen qualified teachers began their studies on 22 September 2026 with an online session comprised of students from across the UK, Europe and the Persian Gulf. This cohort includes teachers from Steiner Waldorf Schools and mainstream settings, with roles varying across key stages, school leadership and learning support as well as class and subject.

This year’s dynamic cohort reflects the winds of change currently sweeping the English education system, reflected in our new government leadership, with a positive focus on creativity, practical skills, movement and sport, supporting the holistic and creative values that are central to the programme.

It remains to be seen whether any changes are adaptations of a normative and head-heavy education system, or whether they can be allowed to serve as driving inspirations that help shape the entirety of, and offer children a rounded and integrated, curriculum. Regardless of how this plays out, we continue to work towards a renewed professionalism and community of practice within teaching: supporting and elevating teachers to take up the leadership of our children and schools and building the infrastructure for a progressive education which is policy-resilient and has a lasting impact.

Creative learning resources to download

– Elevating the Professional

A significant milestone on this journey has been the recent publication of two research projects developed by alumni from the postgraduate programme with Bath Spa University. Funded jointly by both the charity and the university under the Knowledge Exchange programme as part of Research England, these projects are now available free of charge from the charity’s website. Both projects capture moments of action research which each teacher has developed from their time with us on the postgraduate programme. They each committed to sharing their personal journey, as well as providing practical learning resources and approaches. It is this professional exchange which is starting to influence our wider strategy as a charity, reminding ourselves of the alignment between Steiner’s framing of the ‘college of teachers’ and Wenger’s ‘communities of practice’ as well as the commitment of teaching unions to elevate the training for and trust in professionally qualified teachers.

Kezia’s work on seasonality, and Martha’s work on storytelling, are the beginning of a new and exciting chapter for us in supporting professional teachers, and we are in the early stages of talking to other academics and institutions about extending this work, with the global aim of supporting teachers themselves to drive change, share resources, and recentre educational leadership.

Rehana Mughal is currently Director for the Creative Economy Global Programme at the British Council, as well as being a past programmer for the renowned Creative Partnerships programme and a Cultural Programmes Manager for Creativity, Culture and Education. Rehana has specifically been recruited and appointed as Chair

Zakariya Miah is a youth advocate and education campaigner, a recent law graduate and a current Bar student;

David Parker is a specialist in research and evaluation who has served as Director of Research for both Creativity, Culture and Education and the Creative Partnerships programme.

Multisensory integration research

This current research strand, focused on the role of movement and craft in all schools, follows the simple belief that nimble fingers make nimble minds. Ruhi Tyson’s initial report into this area has been shared with a wide range of academics, and its second phase, progressing the questions that arose, is now well underway. These questions surround a need for greater research but also, and more specifically, a call for greater clarity when citing web resources which, whilst they might be innovative and ground-breaking, are not always credible. This is the other perennial challenge of progressive provision – the array of grey literature and unsubstantiated research that exists. One of the most interesting comments so far, regarding the strength of arts and crafts in a Waldorf Curriculum, has been that it is almost stuck in a Renaissance time-warp and perpetuates practices more akin to a museum. Such challenges are wonderful opportunities to share more explicitly the benefits of the ‘immediacy of industry’ and the aesthetics of craft.

Dr. Rachel Sweeney, appointed in March as a Senior Lecturer on the Postgraduate programme (above), has submitted academic commentaries on just this point in response to Ruhi’s paper, and we will be disseminating these, alongside the full report, as they become available. Rachel’s wider commentary surrounds the overall trajectory of education in general, towards a transformative presence and a sustainable future.