Looping

The idea of a teacher staying with a class over a number of years was inaugurated by Rudolf Steiner in the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1919. Since then, the idea has taken hold in a concept called “looping” allowing a teacher to stay with a class for two or three consecutive years. In Waldorf schools the teacher is encouraged to stay with a class from grade one through to grade eight. This researcher in the public sector has identified Rudolf Steiner as the innovator who introduced this plan, a fact rarely recognized outside of Waldorf communities. She documents in this thorough research the history of “looping” and its impact (all positive) on children’s ability to learn.