Nursery World - What we mean

I am writing in response to Jennie Lindon's review of Ready to Learn by Martyn Rawson and Michael Rose (11 July). Her 'main reservation' was that the book lacks a sufficiently direct exposition of Steiner Waldorf educational philosophy and practice - the place where the co-authors declare themselves to be 'coming from'.

Her 'main reservation' was that the book lacks a sufficiently direct exposition of Steiner Waldorf educational philosophy and practice - the place where the co-authors declare themselves to be 'coming from'.

The reason Martyn and I held back on this front was twofold. First, to do justice to the subject would have made our book longer than the format prescribed for it. Hawthorn Press, the publishers, offer other titles that deal more specifically with Steiner Waldorf education from early years onwards.

Second, we were concerned above all to investigate the realities of child development and to encourage our readers to think freely about how upbringing and education might best be tailored to fit these realities. The choice of Steiner Waldorf education is not even an option for the majority of parents -but other choices are. Included in our book's resources section are book titles, websites and contact addresses that we believe can help support such choices.

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