Don't Decide Before Reading This!
Everyone has an opinion. Your best friend from college, your grandmother, your neighbour – it seems that everyone has an opinion on the best preschool program for your child. And, once you look online... forget about it! “Experts” from across the world are ready to chime in with a solution for you.
It can be a bit overwhelming, right?
The unfortunate reality is that there are so many options for early childhood education, that many parents avoid the research process and choose a program for the wrong reasons like the distance from home or because the teacher seemed really nice or the building design is really appealing. These aren't factors to be totally ignored in your decision making, but there is a really important consideration to keep in mind: your child’s first exposure to education will be in the program that you choose. It’s best to gather some basic information about your options and use it to make the right decision.
Only You Know The Answer
Choosing an early childhood program for your child is a highly personal decision. No one knows your child as well as you – their strengths, challenges, personality and temperament should all factor into your decision. Our friends and families can certainly speak to what was a good fit for their children or households, but most really don't know your child well enough to make a qualified recommendation.
We're sure you see your child from all angles and struggle with finding one program that will fit all of their needs.
How We Can Help You
In our experience, most parent research three major methods of early childhood education: Montessori, Waldorf and Play Based. All schools are committed to raising happy, capable, and confident children (at least they should be), but there are different perspectives with regards to how children learn and grow. To help in your decision, we compiled a brief synopsis of each method below.
MONTESSORI
Montessori education encompasses 3 basic tenants:
- All children develop in their. own unique way - not in a strict linear progression.
- Children develop through interaction with their environment.
- Children develop best when they are allowed to pursue their interests.
Environment: Classrooms that support children's developmental needs by giving them extraordinarily rich learning environments filled with carefully designed materials to make abstract concepts understandable. New concepts are presented to a child when they are most interested and capable of learning them. A child moves through the curriculum at their own rate, and are not taken to the next concept until they have demonstrated that they have a solid understanding of prior concepts.
Classrooms contain groupings of children in three- year age spans (in infant/toddler classrooms are grouped more closely in age). Older children serve as role models for the younger children, showing great compassion and kindness toward their younger friends. Their work with the more advanced materials excites and interests the younger ones who want to emulate and be like their older friends. Being the oldest in the class affords the opportunity to develop strong leadership skills. Montessori children stay in the same classrooms for 3 years, which promotes a close relationship between teacher and child.
Interests: In Montessori schools, work is the child’s play. A century ago, Dr. Montessori discovered that children will almost always abandon pretend toys when they are offered “real things” to do. Instead of pretending to cook, Montessori children cut apples and serve them to their friends, they bake bread from scratch and wash and dry the dirty dishes, and they make flower arrangements from flowers they pick from their garden. They relish doing what they see adults doing in their environment and take pride in being independent.
Unique Individuals: Children learn at their own pace in a Montessori classroom. The focus is on developing the potential of each individual child. Instead of teaching to an entire class or to groups, teachers guide the individual child, observing her carefully to make sure she is ready for the lesson and that it is a match for what she is interested in learning. Character education is also of deep importance in the Montessori philosophy. Children receive many lessons in the social graces that benefit human interactions, and children are deliberately supported in developing strong social skills.
Important: Montessori is not a protected name and can be used by any childcare centre or school. It is always recommended that teacher credentials and school accreditation procedures are reviewed to ensure authenticity and quality.
WALDORF
Like Montessori, Waldorf cares about and educates "the whole child." They want every child to reach their individual potential, to be excited about learning and the world around them, to care about and treat their fellow human beings with respect.
Also like Montessori, Waldorf takes a developmental approach to education. Waldorf sees the development of the child divided roughly into three stages (birth to 7, 7 to 14, and 14 to 18). There are characteristics and needs that accompany each stage, and teachers are trained to bring appropriate learning content to each of these stages in order to support and nourish healthy growth.
Waldorf classrooms are beautifully designed and stocked with well-crafted toys made of wood and silk, designed to stimulate fantasy and pretend play.
The Waldorf preschool-kindergarten program places an emphasis on fantasy and imagination as well as storytelling, rhyming and movement games. The early childhood education programs are experiential (hands-on-involvement) and sensory-based. Practical activities are provided for the children to be able to imitate what they see the adults around them doing, like baking and gardening. Music, art and story telling are large components of the program.
Abstract learning (using symbols to learn to read, write or calculate mathematically) is discouraged. Waldorf feels that if children are exposed to intellectual learning too early (before 6-7 years of age), it will detract from their optimum physical, social and emotional growth. Therefore, they encourage children in the preschool years to engage in fantasy and pretend play.
Waldorf educators take a particularly hard stand against the use of television and all electronics, because they don’t believe that they support children’s developmental needs. They, instead, want to protect and insulate the young child in that first stage of development by keeping him away from the realities of the world until he is developmentally capable of handling those realities.
Unlike Montessori, Waldorf education is a registered trademark name that allows for complete control over its governance and teacher-training programs. Teachers go through an extensive and thorough training in Waldorf philosophy and practices before they can work with children.
PLAY-BASED PROGRAMS
The basic theory surrounding play-based programs (i.e Reggio-Emilia) is that children best when they're having fun and "fun" is defined as playing. They believe that work-based, rigid approaches to learning actually turn a child off to leaning and that these do not provide children with positive attitudes and skills necessary to succeed as future learners.
Play-based theory uses children’s “play” as the vehicle for developing social skills, imagination, creativity, inner motivation and motor skills. They believe play promotes imagination and creativity and that long un-interrupted periods of play fosters concentration by allowing the child to get deeply involved in an activity. Inner motivation grows when the child has free choice in her play activity; this is seen as the child taking responsibility for her own learning.
The role of the adult in play-based preschool programs is to guide and extend children’s play experiences. They try to figure out what it is the child is learning and then work to support and extend that learning by adding more materials and asking questions or joining in on their play.
There isn't necessarily an over-arching theoretical framework that all play-based programs share. Such programs include outdoor/nature programs, "loose parts" programs, and "integrated learning" programs. This is one way they differ from Waldorf and Montessori – a program that adheres to a particular pedagogy will (or should be) similar in fundamental ways to others using the same pedagogy. Different theories direct the approaches in play-based thinking. Some proponents value completely free, unstructured play time while others believe in structured experiences that the adult creates and enrichment opportunities carried out by specialists (yoga, music or French instruction).
In Ontario, there aren't specific teacher qualifications to work in play-based preschool programs and there is no formal established training or accreditation for the teachers or programs.
The Bottom Line
Whatever philosophical framework you embrace, remember what matters most is the people who will be with your child and your trust in the setting. Inquire about the training and education credentials of any teacher you are considering for your child - this is especially true if you are considering Montessori or a play-based preschool. All centres who have children under the age of 4 are required to have a license and be inspected by the Ministry of Education per the Child Care and Early Years Act.
Additionally, Montessori schools in Canada have the opportunity to be accredited by the CANADIAN COUNCIL OF MONTESSORI ADMINISTRATORS.
Take your time and go observe in a number of settings so that you begin to get a good feeling of what resonates with you. Your relationship with the school will be an important aspect of your child's experience.
