It may be a truism to say that every teacher should make efforts to understand his pupils. Our
real understanding after all can be a sure foundation and support for children's whole
development and without this our lessons will be a random undertaking that connects with our
pupils at best in a superficial way only. A skilled teacher seeks to understand his pupils so
that he can raise learning beyond mere compulsion or drill. It was Rudolf Steiner's ideal that
the weekly pedagogical meetings in Waldorf schools should support teachers' continually
developing insight into their pupils. He exhorted them to 'become psychologists' but did not
mean this in the commonly understood sense. He himself demonstrated this 'art of evolving
insight' in the faculty meetings in which he participated on many occasions. One can say that
it is an essential part of the quality of our work as teachers for us to develop these skills
of perception reflection and insight. Christof Wiechert here picks up these suggestions of
Steiner's anew. He elaborates from them the art of the child study as a key tool in nurturing
pupils development and at the same time teachers' own growing powers of insight. In short the
approach described here can enliven the educational and social dimensions of a whole school
community.
