ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines and examines a set of struggles encountered in embarking upon a research project focussed on an alternative educational tradition within the Australian educational landscape. The research in question is PhD project, the focus of which is on Steiner education as an 'alternative' within the Australian context, the proposal for which has passed candidature confirmation, but the data collection is yet to commence. The nature and the aims of the research guide the decisions about the aspects of Steiner education to focus on the brief background of Steiner education. Whilst there is not space in the chapter to examine the details of the debate as it played out, these or similar issues have been raised in numerous contexts where Steiner education has received public funding, including in the USA and England. A discourse that conceptually accommodates diversity of practice provides an important context for the support of multiple practices.
