Is the Montessori approach right for your child?

Text Keith G Emuang

Like most parents, Laura Ten was concerned about being unable to spend enough time with her kids during the critical years of her children's development. Unable to see to her children's academic and developmental needs, she decided to look for solution.

"I did not want them to miss out on their ‘prime time' for learning, so when I heard about Montessori, I thought it would be ideal for them," admits the 33-year old assistant manager, who found out more about the method from the Internet.

She enrolled both her boys in Shekinah Montessori House when they were just two years old. The smaller student-teacher ratio meant that they were able to benefit from more attention and guidance. Today, eight-year-old Keith and six-year- old Ryan are doing well. 

Laura says, "Besides their positive attitudes towards learning which has produced good academic results, they have grown more confident, independent, responsive and sensitive to others, and have better self-discipline. I couldn't have asked for more." 

What is it?
Developed by Dr Maria Montessori, the method is based on the belief that all children have an innate desire to learn due to their 'absorbent' minds.

She felt the best way for them to learn was through spontaneous play through active participation, i.e. using their hands. As such, she had also designed special learning apparatus to help the process of self-development. 

Dr Tzuo Pei Wen, assistant professor, Early Childhood and Special Needs Education, National Institute of Education (NIE), elaborates, "In a typical Montessori classroom, children learn and work in an organised environment with a variety of materials to meet their developmental needs at different developmental stages."

Through their experiences, new knowledge and skills, developed at their own pace, their senses become heightened. Their desire to learn will carry them to explore further, and they gradually develop the ability to make decisions for themselves and solve problems through creative thinking.

Pros and cons
Connie Cho, principal of Brighton Montessori, a full-Montessori pre-school, says, "We strongly believe that all children are unique individuals and learn differently. As such, our teaching is on a one-to-one basis, especially when it comes to the three core subjects of language, mathematics and Mandarin."

During lessons, the teacher would be teaching each child individually using Montessori learning apparatus and recording their progress on the child’s individual progress record. Each child in the same class would be working on a different activity based on her own achieved levels.

"The unique feature here is that we track each child’s learning process individually and we communicate this to the parents frequently," shares Cho.

Although some studies have shown that children who attend Montessori have performed well in mathematics and science in mainstream schools, NIE’s Tzuo has her reservations. 

"These findings may have bias because Montessori children usually come from the better-off families due to the high fees. Therefore, the main factors influencing a child’s development is still uncertain." 

One of the main criticisms about the Montessori method is that in the process of developing independence, a child emerges lacking the requisite interactive skills necessary to work with others once he enters mainstream school. However, this has not been conclusively proven.

Nevertheless, options have evolved over the years with several preschools now offering Montessori, as one of several components in their integrated approach.

The hybrid form
Cecilia Tan, director at Shekinah Montessori School notes, "While Montessori has shown to be superior in the development of language and mathematics, our concern is with the lack of socialisation and interaction between the children in that environment as they are expected to work independently."

The school integrates the 'Project' and 'High Scope' approaches of learning into its programme. The former encourages children to interact, question, discuss and debate as they discover new knowledge through working on a project, while the latter initiates an environment where children are given freedom of choice of activities.

BestCare Montessori delivers a curriculum which integrates Montessori with the Early Childhood Care & Education programme, the first preschool here to implement this back in 1998.

The programme comprises three lesson components, self-paced Montessori work with individual coaching by teachers, group time discussions for integrated mathematics and language development and daily Mandarin lessons.

Pamela Lee, BestCare’s Principal Director explains, "Mixed age grouping is a Montessori method of grouping children. However, these days, vertical grouping can be better implemented with a smaller mixed age difference grouping."

She adds, "Certain toys are just not appropriate and may be a danger for the two-year old compared to a six-year old. Computer lesson time is another example."

It's about the child
Besides outlining what they expect from early education, parents need to understand their child's developmental level and determine if his disposition and personality makes him suitable for Montessori.

"You should find a programme type that your child will enjoy and need rather than to force fit a child into a learning pattern," advises Lee.
 NIE’s Tzuo feels that Montessori is more suitable for self-motivated and goal-oriented learners. She also believes that children who need more adult facilitation may require a programme which provides more teacher-child interaction, instead of working solely with materials.

Cho sums it up best when she says, "If you still have fears or reservations, talk to the schools to find out how they prepare the children for Primary 1 education."

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