Sue Palmer was a primary head teacher long ago. She is an ally of Richard House (see below) and author of Toxic Childhood. She is also one of those who tars the teaching of early reading using synthetic phonics with the 'formal' brush, once describing advocates as, ''(A) rabble of back to basics diehards'' (Palmer. TES 10/11/95). More recently she opined that it was 'cruel and mad' to expect the majority of five year olds to be able to write simple sentences (Nursery World 11/1/12). But, as Jim Rose said, ''The term ‘formal’ in the pejorative sense in which phonic work is sometimes perceived in early education is by no means a fair reflection of the active, multi-sensory practice seen and advocated by the review for starting young children on the road to reading'' (Rose Review.2006 Summary p3)
Any organisation which includes Richard House on its committee is at least a partial front for Steiner education.
Here’s some background.
The UK's most prominent Steiner advocate is Dr. Richard House. He is a trained Steiner Waldorf teacher and now a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Winchester. Dr. House campaigns vigorously for a Steiner-style (anti-intellectual, no reading, no phonics, no number work, and definitely no ICT) curriculum for all children until the age most have lost their milk teeth, around the age of seven. The spiritualist beliefs behind the Steiner devotees' demand for an age seven start to formal education are not communicated openly to the public or even to the parents of children attending Steiner schools.
Steiner / Waldorf ''Steiner education is based on an esoteric/occultist movement called anthroposophy, founded by Austrian mystic Rudolf Steiner..Anthroposophy is centred on beliefs in karma, reincarnation and advancing children's connection to the spirit world'' (The Observer. 13/05/12)
The Open Waldorf website is particularly informative about the Steiner stance on teaching reading:
‘'Waldorf schools discourage children from reading before the age of 7. In fact, some experts in the Waldorf community consider this type of early development "a tragedy" Why is the Waldorf point of view so different than the bulk of academic research on this subject? The answer can be found in Waldorf's alternative theory of child development, which is based on Rudolf Steiner's clairvoyant insight on the human being. The timing of this proscription against reading corresponds with the "cutting of the teeth," which Steiner indicated as a developmental milestone, with the incarnation of the etheric body in children. Steiner says early reading will hinder the later spiritual development of children’'
Steiner educationalists believe that the early development of intellectual abilities ''is a ‘negative development …a tragedy’'. They say that teaching reading and writing before the 'cutting of teeth' around the age of seven, ''damages the etheric body', and triggers, 'cristallization processes, leading to eventual precocious sclerosis processes later on in life’'
(
http://www.ime.usp.br/~vwsetzer/reading.html)
Dr. House appears to agree with this mumbo-jumbo. On the subject of children starting 'formal schooling' before the age of six, he says, ''(T)he evidence is now quite overwhelming that such an early introduction to institutional learning is not only quite unnecessary for the vast majority of children, but can actually cause major developmental harm, and at worst a shortened life-span....Young children's "runaway" intellect actually needs to be slowed down in the early years if they are not to risk growing up in an intellectually unbalanced way, with possible life-long negative health effects"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18084204
Research by Steiner advocate Dr. Sebastian Suggate claims to show, 'that teaching children to read from age five is not likely to make that child any more successful at reading than a child who learns reading later, from age seven'.
http://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago006408.html
UK educational psychologist, John Noble, commented on Suggate's study: ''All state educated children in NZ are first taught by the language based methods of Marie Clay which are akin to Reading Recovery Methods used here. Using a picture vocabulary test to assess 'receptive vocabulary' as one of his 'controls', the study compared the later reading comprehension scores of about 50 children at 11 and 12 attending Steiner Schools (which also stress the importance of language methods) and State Schools. No differences were found at 11 and 12. This study has absolutely no implications whatsoever for the first teaching of reading in the UK using synthetic phonics, because no such comparison was included in the Otago study. After working in NZ a couple of streets away from Otago University and having assessed some dreadful cases of all round literacy skills failure in the 2 Steiner Schools sampled in this study, as well as witnessed similarly appalling cases of reading and spelling failure in NZ state schools, I think we need to advise great caution in this country about proposals about precipitous changes in the timing of first literacy teaching derivable from this amateurish bit of research nonsense from NZ''
Blogger, Simon Webb, also commented on Suggate's research: ''Another point to remember is that this is not exactly an unbiased piece of work. Sebastian Sugatte was for years a leading light in the students' Anthroposophical Society at the university. He has always been a dedicated supporter of Rudolf Steiner's theories about education. In other words, he did not embark on this research in order to test whether children did better if they delayed learning to read until seven. Rather, he believed this firmly and went looking for evidence to support the hypothesis. That this is so can be seen from the wording he uses. He talks of the age at which children are, "forced to start reading"! How's that for objective, academic language? There is a lack of candour on the part of the man, as can be seen in this quotation from the New Zealand Herald. He is speaking of the apparent discovery that children learning later were not disadvantaged, "Dr Suggate said he was surprised by his own findings that this was not the case." For a dedicated anthroposophist to make such a statement with a straight face suggests strongly that there is an element of deliberate deception involved''.