To think Montessori is massively overhyped?

[Sherekhancarolbaskin]

Or does it truly have proven pedagogic advantages?

I’m already not a fan of the Waldorf Steiner method at all.

Montessori does seem a lot better to me but after having looked into it a lot of it seems a bit off to me. Besides the fact Maria Montessori did questionable things as a parent herself, abandoning her own son

[Gatehouse77]

There's a lot of Montessori initiatives that are common place now that you won't realise how much has come from her.

Child size furniture in the classroom.
Learn through play (albeit directed play).
Moving from gross motor skills to fine motor skills.
Helping children to order (make sense) of the world around them.
Sensory learning - isolating senses to focus on refining them.
Phonics.
Home corners - practical life skills.

Are the ones off the top of my head. We owe quite a lot to the Montessori movement in education.

[HardbackWriter]

Lots of children don't really choose things they find hard or boring (drawing and pre writing skills in particular are not popular with some children) if there's anything else on offer. Not all children are naturally eager for knowledge/learning across the board, its limited to their areas of interest. Lots will happily at age 3 or 4 engage in quite repetitive play from which they don't acquire many new skills. To get more from that needs an adult on hand to help/encourage them to extend their play. It can work in a nursery with 6 or 8 kids per adult, in a reception class with 30 kids and only 2 adults, there isnt enough adult contact to get maximum benefit from it.

This is really interesting to hear you say this - DS1 goes to a nursery that isn't branded as Montessori but has an ethos very, very much like people are describing here as Montessori. He pretty much never chooses to do the art activities and is particularly reluctant to draw (he's keener on painting) - he actually rarely seems to choose anything indoors at nursery! He does paint and draw with me at home (where it isn't one of a range of options he's presented with) but he seems to be quite behind with drawing and pen skills. I don't know whether to just agree that he'll be interested when he's interested or whether he needs more of a push - he has a tendency to only like to do things if he can do them well (which is also one of my own worst traits) so I'm worried it's a bit self-reinforcing if he doesn't like to draw and write?

[Marcipex]

There’s a nursery near us which calls itself a Montessori. I never questioned it until on a course where there were several actual Montessori teachers who insisted it was not registered and actually a fake Montessori!

How strange that it’s allowed to continue to use the name.

The woman who runs it hates all parents and won’t engage at all.
It’s quite popular as people think it’s a real Montessori, as I did.

[reluctantbrit]

With lots of these theories, it always depends on how it is delivered.

We looked at a Montesorri nursery (for a 1 year old) and found the idea too much for a young baby. Our friend's DS went to one from 2 1/2, more a pre-school then nursery, and had a great time as it wasn't childcare but more early learning.

DD would have hated a Montesorri primary school, she thrives on routines (discovered later that she is on the ADHD spectrum) so the whole independent decision what to learn would have been a disaster for her.

I think it is great that it becomes more mainstream so parents have a choice. Not all children fit the same style of teaching.

Steiner is a totally different ideology and after spending 1/2 day in a Steiner Kindergarten/primary school when I did Sociology in 6th form, I knew I wouldn't ever touch that concept.

[kirinm]

@Marcipex

There’s a nursery near us which calls itself a Montessori. I never questioned it until on a course where there were several actual Montessori teachers who insisted it was not registered and actually a fake Montessori!

How strange that it’s allowed to continue to use the name.

The woman who runs it hates all parents and won’t engage at all.
It’s quite popular as people think it’s a real Montessori, as I did.

Which area of the UK is this? There have been two references to the women running the nurseries hating all parents which makes me think it's the one near me!

[Kokeshi123]

Montessori is not a legally protected term, I believe, so pretty much any nursery can call themselves Montessori without breaking any laws. They vary a lot.

[JeshusHChr]

The Montessori classrooms are also always really quiet because all the kids are totally engrossed in their activities
It was heavily enforced in the Montessori school my son very briefly went to ( never made it past the induction sessions - he hated it). The children were expected to be quiet and to be still and physically inactive.

Montessori did not believe in the value of play. At this school they did not believe in children being able to play, or to engage in imaginary or make believe games. Whenever children tried to play in this school, the teachers would intervene as the child was not using the materials in the ' right way', and would try to change the learning goal to the ' right' one. Children, as children do, would enforce rules on their peers if they saw a child trying to play with a material ( such as using a toy eagle and lion to play a game with rather than placing them on a map on the country those animals came from).

I hated it and so did my son. There is a lot known about the vital importance of play in children's learning and development. Schools that ignore this are trapping themselves in a historical period.

I think other montessori schools may be more adaptive.

[Marcipex]

@kirinm south west

[gogohm]

Just be aware that not all so called Montessori preschools are accredited in any way. Unfortunately I came into contact with the worst nursery chain in history when they rented from us, supposedly Montessori but I observed them, they were not, it was at best a rubbish playground with staff more interested in smoking outside

[Kokeshi123]

I think it's quite hard to actually quantify the effects of Montessori practices, because you'd have to control for the effects of "the kind of parents who tend to choose Montessori" (who tend to be more literate and educated than other parents).

The majority of people I know who've used Montessori nurseries have been happy enough.

I have, however, come across a fair few who withdrew their children from "purist" Montessori nurseries because it wasn't working for the child. The typical case would involve a little boy who was struggling with things like language and social skills, and would just spend long periods of time playing alone with small toys and doing the same repetitive activities. When the parents queried this, they got responses along the lines of "If a child stands alone playing with the sand tray for hours, it's because they NEED to stand alone playing with the sand tray for hours."

The parents weren't having this, and eventually moved their kids to places which actively encouraged less-verbal children to get involved with story time, circle time and other social activities.

I think these approaches are not good for children who need to work on specific areas. As PP says, when a child finds something hard, they tend to avoid doing it unless you give them a bit of a push. But if they don't practice, the gap between them and their peers will grow wider.

[Footnote]

A child who has a family interested and engaged enough to be weighing the advantages of Montessori over other approaches will do well anywhere.

Cynically I think it’s an approach that looks very nice on Instagram.

[CaptainMyCaptain]

@Happyhappyday

I went to Montessori and our kiddo goes. We like the emphasis on kids learning to do things themselves & developing a love of learning. It worked for my brother and I and seems to be going well for our kiddo. But also both schools were/are just very well regarded locally, I’m sure there are shit Montessori’s too.

The Montessori classrooms are also always really quiet because all the kids are totally engrossed in their activities.

We like the emphasis on kids learning to do things themselves & developing a love of learning. I trained as an Early Years teacher and this was also our emphasis in mainstream until recent years and Academisation. Some Early Years teachers are still holding out but I was bullied into retirement. I thought the Montessori settings I visited were very structured and lacking in imaginative play and truly free experimentation.

[Nevernottrying]

We were lucky enough to live fairly close to an excellent Montessori when my children were little. We made sacrifices to send them there as we weren’t on huge incomes, but I am incredibly grateful that they had such a good start as I truly believe it set them up to be the successful people they are today. One of the comments we regularly got at parent/ teacher interviews was that they had amazing initiative . To me that is a skill that gets you ahead in whatever field you choose.
I guess it’s like anywhere though, there are good and not so great Montessori’s and we were lucky with our one.

[HaveringWavering]

It worked for my brother and I

Didn’t work at teaching you grammar, clearly.

[PenStation]

Most nurseries have cherry picked the best bits of Montessori theory in any case. I would say it makes a bigger difference if the children feel happy in the setting and are bonded with their key workers.

[Feduprenter]

I think they’re far greater things to consider in choosing an nursery and whether it’s Montessori or not.
My preference is for one where the staff get breaks, where they are paid more than minimum wage where there are enough staff on the floor at all times to make sure that the children aren’t left eating on attended.

[ginandbearit]

What's with the shitty grammar comments ?
Mean spirited ...this is quick text speak not a presentation ..

[purpleme12]

This thread is really interesting
I know someone who absolutely raves about Montessori
She's changed her home to it completely (she didn't used to use it) although doesn't send him to nursery
Sometimes I think she's obsessed with Montessori
Really interesting to read what's been naturally incorporated into normal nurseries too without us knowing

[Curlyreine]

@TrickyD

It worked for my brother and I and seems to be going well for our kiddo. But also both schools were/are just very well regarded locally, I’m sure there are shit Montessori’s too.

No doubt hot stuff on pouring water neatly and cutting carrots, pity they don't regard grammar and punctuation as worth bothering with.

What a strange comment? I can assure you that grammar and language is a very important part of the curriculum. Including giving the vocabulary and origins of language when introducing new vocabulary.


There are a lot of ill informed and very incorrect posts on this thread, based on assumptions and without any research or knowledge.

But people are quick to judge and will form opinions to suit their bias. Only those who are interested will truly take the time to become informed.

[Curlyreine]

@fairylightsandwaxmelts

My DC went to a nursery that had some sort of Montessori built into their learning.When DS started school his teacher said they could always tell who went to this nursery as they were always ahead of the other children

But is it still noticeable by year two? Year six? I doubt it.

I

All the way to adulthood, actually.

[ScotInExile]

@PAFMO

"@Scotinexile
ALL nurseries foster independence if they are good. That's part of their job description. And, lightbulb moment, despite working and having children in childcare, most parents bond with their children just fine. So off you pop with your nasty attitude towards people who do things differently to you."

Clearly you've misunderstood my post and it's struck a nerve with you.
I didn't say anything about working parents bonding with their children. If anything, they likely put more effort into bonding with their children in the limited time they have with them.
My point was that this parent was bragging about the valuable experience and benefits of Montessori while outsourcing the very same tasks at home.
I have fond memories of my childhood hanging out with my mum and learning and doing all this kind of stuff with her. Most parents now don't have that luxury and I'm sure they would change that if they could. My neighbour had that luxury and outsourced it for a status symbol.

[BertieBotts]

It sounds like a lot of Montessori nurseries are using the name but don't actually have Montessori-trained staff, which is a bit of a problem.

"I work for a childcare agency and have worked ina Montessori nursery...We weren't allowed to say no or stop and had to use positive discipline. However there was more violence than I have seen in the other nursery's I have worked in....I was shocked and they weren't."

Just saying "We don't tell the children no or stop" is not helpful unless you have the tools and training to manage undesirable behaviour in other ways. It's perfectly possible to do that without those words but it's not the way most people have learned to manage children's behaviour, boiling it down to "don't say no, be positive" is a gross oversimplification and it sounds like the staff at that nursery weren't very good at behaviour management in a Montessori way if the children were being violent all the time.

That's interesting about the play, it does seem quite outdated in that sense.

I won't name them because an internet klaxon goes off somewhere but the other type of nursery OP mentioned tend to be completely bonkers and a bit cult like. No evidence for any of their methods at all.

[sofakingcool]

@Gatehouse77

There's a lot of Montessori initiatives that are common place now that you won't realise how much has come from her.

Child size furniture in the classroom.
Learn through play (albeit directed play).
Moving from gross motor skills to fine motor skills.
Helping children to order (make sense) of the world around them.
Sensory learning - isolating senses to focus on refining them.
Phonics.
Home corners - practical life skills.

Are the ones off the top of my head. We owe quite a lot to the Montessori movement in education.

👍🏼

[busyeatingbiscuits]

I agree with other posts that lots of the "best bits" of Montessori have been incorporated into the UK Early Years curriculum and are seen as best practice in a lot of mainstream nurseries now.

The things Montessori really lacks imo is imaginary play and fantasy. Montessori emphasised practical skills and didn't see the benefit to children of fantasy roleplay, dressing up and learning fairy tales which is all part of the mainstream nursery curriculum.

Anyone can call themselves a Montessori, and nurseries will vary from very pure to just having some of the specific Montessori activities/materials, to even being a totally standard nursery with a few small jugs and wooden toys.

[ancientgran]

I think a good Montessori nursery is well worth it but so is any good nursery, I think all nurseries are influenced by Montessori, well unless they are a really bad nursery.

I actively dislike Steiner and object to them being state funded.