A close look at The Montessori Approach
If you're comparing early learning options, you'll keep bumping into the word "Montessori," usually attached to claims about independence, calm classrooms, and wooden trays of beautiful little objects. It's one of the best-known education methods in the world and a popular choice across Australia, but what it actually involves can be hazy from the outside. This guide explains what the Montessori approach is, who created it, how a Montessori classroom works, what it covers, and how to tell whether it suits your child.
What is the Montessori approach?
The Montessori approach is a child-led method of education built around children's natural interests, in which they choose freely from a range of developmentally appropriate activities in a carefully "prepared environment." Rather than a teacher directing the whole group through set lessons, children work at their own pace with hands-on materials, and the educator guides rather than instructs. It's used from birth through to high school, though it's best known in the early years.
Who was Maria Montessori?
Maria Montessori was an Italian doctor and educator, and one of the first women in Italy to qualify as a physician. She opened her first school, the Casa dei Bambini, in the San Lorenzo district of Rome in 1907. Her methods grew from close scientific observation of how children actually learn, and from her conclusion that, given the right environment, children largely teach themselves. More than a century on, the approach she developed carries her name worldwide.
How does a Montessori classroom work?
A Montessori classroom groups children of mixed ages and abilities, typically in three-year spans such as birth to three and three to six. Children move freely around a prepared environment, choosing activities that interest them and working through them at their own pace, often during a long, uninterrupted work period of up to three hours. The mixed-age grouping is deliberate: it encourages younger children to learn from older ones, older children to consolidate skills by teaching, and everyone to practise cooperation and problem-solving.
What are the key principles of the Montessori method?
The method rests on a handful of ideas drawn from Montessori's observations of young children. The core principles are:
- The absorbent mind. Montessori observed that from birth to around age six, children soak up language, movement, and a sense of order from their environment almost effortlessly.
- Sensitive periods. She described windows when children are especially drawn to particular skills, like language or fine movement, and learn them readily if the environment supports it.
- The prepared environment. Rooms are set up with child-sized furniture and ordered, accessible materials so children can choose and work independently.
- Freedom within limits. Children choose their own work, but inside clear boundaries and routines.
- Hands-on, self-correcting materials. The equipment is designed so a child can see and fix their own mistakes, which builds independence and concentration.
What does a Montessori curriculum cover?
A Montessori early-years program is usually organised into a few core learning areas. These are practical life (everyday skills like pouring, dressing, and tidying), sensorial work (refining the senses through sorting and matching), language, and mathematics, often alongside cultural studies that take in geography, science, music, and art. The practical-life and sensorial areas are a distinctive feature of the early years, laying the groundwork for the more academic areas as children grow.
What ages is Montessori for?
Montessori caters from babyhood right through childhood, with environments tailored to each stage. A Nido (Italian for "nest") is for babies from around two to three months until they're walking confidently, a parent-infant class brings caregivers and young children together with an educator, a toddler community follows once children are walking well, and the three-to-six class is the classic Montessori preschool environment. The method then continues into primary and secondary years, though most Australian Montessori enrolments are in the early years.
Is Montessori childcare regulated in Australia?
Yes. A Montessori long day care centre, preschool, or family day care service in Australia is an approved education and care service like any other, regulated under the National Quality Framework and assessed against the National Quality Standard. According to ACECQA, the National Quality Framework sets the benchmark all approved services are rated against, so a Montessori service follows the same safety, staffing, and quality requirements as a mainstream centre while using the Montessori method to deliver its program.
Is the Montessori approach right for your child?
Montessori tends to suit children who flourish with independence, self-direction, and the freedom to follow an activity deeply, and parents who value calm, ordered environments and learning through doing. It isn't the only quality approach, though, and what matters most is the fit between the philosophy, the individual service, and your child. The best way to judge is to visit, watch a work period, and ask how the educators support children who need more structure. It can also help to compare it with other philosophies, like the Steiner approach or the Froebel approach, and with mainstream play-based care.
Search childcare near you.
Montessori is one of several well-regarded approaches to early learning, and the right one for your family comes down to your child and the specific service. To see what's on offer near you, search and compare childcare on Care for Kids and filter by the learning approaches that interest you.
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