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One unfortunate aspect of Montessori is that, since no one “owns” the name/title, anyone who wishes to can open up a preschool, put a pink tower in the corner, and call themselves “Montessori.” There are many wonderful and amazing Montessori schools… and there are also quite a few not very good ones, and unfortunately it is these lesser schools that help spread confusion and misinformation of what Montessori is and how it works.
I often hear from people about how they don’t like the Montessori Method based on a bad experience they, or their sister, or their best friend’s brother’s friend, had with a particular school. One common misconception is that Montessori is all about letting kids run around wild, doing whatever they want, whenever they want. I’ve heard people say that Montessori doesn’t teach kids to respect authority or authority figures. One person told me her sister had taken her children out of a Montessori school because she felt the school was too rigid and didn’t allow for expressing creativity. Anyone who knows and understand Maria Montessori’s philosophy well knows that these are examples of poorly implemented “Montessori” ideas.
The truth is, when done well a Montessori education leads to children who learn inner discipline, thanks to being given absolute freedom within a very carefully prepared and managed environment. These children learn to respect their teachers due to feeling understood and cared for, rather than out of fear. And Montessori is one of the best forms of education I know of for fostering and expressing creativity, as it is the child who is in control and who guides his or her own learning and discovery (I believe I mentioned in a previous post my friend who wrote his own comic books in his Montessori elementary classroom, as a project that helped him practice his creativity, story-telling, handwriting, focus, and follow-through).
So how is a parent to know which schools as “good” and which ones are, well, not so true to the Montessori methodology? It can be tough, especially if you yourself are new to Montessori. I recently went through the process of visiting and observing various schools in the area while searching for the right preschool for my own toddler son. As I compared schools to one another, some excellent and some very disappointing, here are a few things that came to mind as “markers” to look for*:
Classroom “schedule.” One of the first things I like to ask about is the school’s daily “schedule” for the children. Maria Montessori was very clear about the children needing a full 3 hour long uninterrupted, unscheduled work period. This means three full hours without outside interruptions (such as forced circle time where all children must participate, or any other planned activity decided upon by an adult) during which the children are choosing their work, or receiving a lesson by the teacher/guide. Some schools allow for as little as a single hour for free work time, filling up the rest of the morning with snack, circle times, and other structured activities. The problem with a short free work period is that the children never get a chance to really buckle down and focus on their work. I used to work at a school that only gave the children 1 hour to do work, and the entire hour was a constant buzz of activity as the kids let out nervous energy, flitting from one short activity to the other. It was rare to see anyone truly concentrated, and forget about anyone wanting to take out a more involved activity because there wouldn’t be enough time to complete it.
I’ve seen a few schools that provide the children with 2 or 2.5 hours of free work time, which is an improvement. But then I visited one school that stuck to the full 3 hour work period, and the first thing I saw as I approached a primary classroom was the thousand chain (a long chain of 1,000 beads that the children count and label. Yes, 5 year olds can count all the way up to 1,000) all laid out along the hallway, with 2 children counting and placing their number labels alongside it. When you have a long work period, there’s actually time to do long work like the thousand chain. As I watched the classroom, almost every other child in that class was focused on their own work. The level of calm and focus was amazing.
It can be tough to find a preschool that devotes a full 3 hours of free work time, but I do highly suggest trying to find a school that gives the children 3 hours s to work freely.
Certification. This is where I confess that I’m a bit of an AMI snob. I received my training through the Association Montessori Internationale, or AMI. This is the Montessori organization founded by Maria Montessori herself, and seems to do the best job at sticking to the original Montessori ideals and practices. Therefore, for me, I like to see that a school’s teachers also hold AMI diplomas. This is not a requirement or fail-safe by any means– there are many wonderful teachers and schools who trained through different organizations, and I have also encountered AMI teachers and schools who were lacking (in my opinion). But in my experience, being trained through AMI makes it more likely that the classroom’s practices are closer to a more “pure” form of Montessori.
Mixed age groups. I’ve actually been surprised to see so-called “Montessori” schools that split up their classrooms into narrower age gaps. Instead of having kids 2.5 or 3 years old all the way up to 6 years in one classroom, they’ll put 2 and 3yr olds together and 4 and 5 yr olds together, or some other split. I find this puzzling and unfortunate, as part of what’s so great about Montessori is the mixed-age groups and the opportunity it gives the children to learn from each other.
Homework and Motivation. Montessori classrooms – at least the preschool classes – should have no homework. There should also be no sticker charts, grades, or other external reward systems. The child’s best reward for work well done is his or her own sense of pride in him/herself.
Observe the classroom. This is really the most important consideration of all. If you can do nothing else, set up a time when you can observe a classroom at the school, if even only for 20 minutes. Most schools should allow this, either by letting you sit in a chair inside the actual room or they might have a special window for this purpose. If possible, see about scheduling some time to talk to the teacher or another staff member at the school to answer any questions that arose in your mind during your observation. Observing will give you the best sense for what the feel of the whole classroom is like. What are the children like– are they working productively, or do they seem distracted and restless? Are they cooperating, or disrupting each other’s work? What does the classroom itself look like– are the walls busy with distracting posters and prints, or pleasantly decorated without being overwhelming? Are the materials arranged in an orderly manner on the shelves? Does it feel like an inviting environment? What about the teacher– how does she react to the children, and how do they react to her?
And most importantly– how does the classroom make you feel? Does it feel cold, or too rigid, or too wild? Or does what you see make you feel warm and comfortable, and like this is a place where you want your child to be? Because, when it all comes down to it, that alone is probably the most important factor of any school you choose for your child(ren).
Well done post thank you!
Thank you for that, it I so true
Bangalore, India, the city where I live, is full of so called Montessori schools, which thoroughly lack the Montessori spirit. And to attract students, several schools claim to follow the montessori methods, without having any certified teachers or methodology. It is very difficult to find a proper Montessori school.
I was in the unfortunate situation that my mother wanted to send me to a Montessori school in Victoria, Australia. It was unfortunate because the only high school at the time was in Brisbane (1,000’s of kilometres away). I wonder what a difference it would have made. We were actually talking about this two days ago. Even though I am well away from having kids, I am very interested in this sort of learning for when the time comes. An insightful article, keep up the good work.
this gives me a lot help to distinguish the scool.thank u.
Jon and I are just about to start discussing various types of school options/preschool etc for Liam, and so this post is great timing…and is extremely informative. Thank ou.
Thank you for sharing, it is true.
In Indonesia so many schools claim as Montessori school without understand the Montessori in depth, nor the trained/certified teacher.
The feel of the classroom has been very significant to me. The key word I always left with was “dignity.” The dignity of the students and the guide nearly always brought me to tears! The respectfulness they had for each other was remarkable. Children are capable of so much if we can just get out of their way a bit!
I must add that our school is AMI accredited and award-winning.
thanks for the enlightenment, a Montessori environment is the best place to be because it is always filled with love.
Thank you for this article. Can you comment for me on a Montessori teacher punishing children who “do not listen” in class by taking away recess? This is happening in my son’s class and I am trying to understand how it can possibly fit with Dr. Montessori’s philosophy. It is being done under the guise of setting limits and the children needing to understand that when they “step over the line” certain privileges are revoked. Thank you.
That would not be within Montessori practice at all. That is a punishment and something Dr. Montessori advised against.
I am sorry to hear that you are a snob about training. The only pure Montessori comes from those who read her books and adhere to the philosophy and techniques that she so deftly put in writing. I know that there are things that she also “said” and are not written that are important, but the core of this amazing method is already in the hands of all. She was no snob, and wanted her method to be available to all. It is the case in North America that because of the price of training, Montessori schools are super expensive, effectively excluding the children of the economically struggling families. I would suggest to any passionate teacher that would like to use the Montessori Method, to read and soak up her wonderful ideas, practice as she says and you will have the purest Montessori school ever. She established schools for teachers, but AMS, IMS, and every other training Association have their own particular interpretation.
But many so called “trainings” are indeed very poor. In North America a MACTE accreditation is absolutely required for a training program to be valid.
And I would love to see documentation of where Dr. Montessori said she wanted her trainings to be freely had by all. In fact, she said quite the opposite (and this is a large part of why the AMI/AMS split happened).
Mary,
I have been trying to move closer to this for the last three years and some minor changes have taken place. Hopefully, the next administration will be more focused on accreditation and will adhere to the freeing standards.
Michele
I understand the philosophy of a 3 hour uninterrupted work time, but I am finding my 7 year old needs to have some sort of activity break during those 3 hours. It is much too long for him and many others in his class to focus strictly on academics without getting to stretch, run around, and get refocused. How do we help those kids who need more activity in their day?
Heather- You are totally right! So many kids need that time to rest and take a break. What is GREAT about an AMI school and the 3 hour work period is that children have the freedom to do so! They might work on a project for a bit in the morning, decide to take a break or clean up, go do some gardening work outside for a bit, maybe help a friend work on something, go back to their precious work, etc. No one forces the child to work for 3 hours straight. Rest and reflection is essential and something we look for when observing children. They need some time to contemplate and may go from something really cognitively challenging for them and then decide to do something that may be considered “mindless work” for them like helping to fold laundry for the class or filling up a bird feeder. A seven year old in a lower elementary class will also meet with the guide and review their progress of work, often recorded by the child in some kind of journal. They often have like pre-planned times where they’ll schedule lessons beforehand so the child will know ahead of time. So they could maybe take a break right before working with the teacher for 15-20 minutes on something.
🙂
It’s absolutely perfect for children who need to move!
Thank you for sharing such a great blog, As we known Montessori is a unique way of education that relies on the self-directed actions, collaborative play and hands-on learning. This Method of learning has long been popular all around the world and recently.
The certification of a Montessori preschool seems to be a very important thing. I agree that you would want to check this certification before you send your kids there. My sister is looking for a Montessori program for her daughter so she’ll have to check the certification before she does.
I agree with your advice that I should take the time to observe the classroom of Montessori for at least 20 minutes before enrolling my child. My husband and I are looking for a Montessori for our only daughter, Alicia. I’ll take note of the tips mentioned here to ensure that I choose the best school for her. Thanks for this.