Traditional Education vs. Montessori Education

Traditional

• emphasis on social development

• teacher is center of classroom as ‘controller’
• teacher acts as primary enforcer of discipline
• mainly group instruction; same age grouping
• most teaching done by teacher
• curriculum structured for child
• child is guided to concepts by teacher
• child generally allotted specific time for work
• instruction pace usually set by group norm
• if work is corrected, errors usually pointed out by teacher
• learning is reinforced externally by repetition, rewards and punishment
• few materials for sensory development
• no organized program for self-care instruction – left primarily to parents
• child usually assigned own chair; required to participate, sit still and listen during group lessons

Montessori

• emphasis on cognitive development

• teacher has unobtrusive role in classroom
• environment and method encourage self-discipline
• mainly individual instruction based on age grouping
• grouping encourages children to teach and help each other
• child chooses own work
• child discovers own concepts from self-teaching materials
• child works as long as he wishes on chosen project
• child sets own learning pace
• child spots own errors from feedback of material
• child reinforces own learning by repetition of work and internal feelings of success
• multi-sensory materials for physical exploration
• organized program for learning care of self and environment (polish shoes; wash dishes)
• child works where he chooses, moves around and talks at will (not disturbing others); group work is voluntary