In this article, we will cover three different types of preschool programs—Montessori, Reggio

Emilia and Waldorf. The following questions will be considered for each of the three
approaches:

What is the program’s history?

What are its main components?

What is unique about the program?

How can one tell if a school is truly following the model?

The Montessori Method

Maria Montessori, Italy’s first woman physician, opened her first school in 1907. The first
Montessori school in the United States opened in 1911, and by 1916 the Montessori Method was
found in locations across the world.

The use of natural observation in a prepared environment by an objective teacher led Montessori
to consider her method scientific. After Montessori completed her direct study of children, she
specified every particular detail of how the school should be operated to ensure accurate
replication. The teacher’s role in a Montessori school is to observe in order to connect the child
with the suitable materials (Goffin, 2001).

Two main branches of Montessori Method have developed: the Association Montessori
International (AMI) and the American Montessori Society (AMS). The Association Montessori
internationally was founded in 1929 by Montessori, herself, to maintain the integrity of her life’s
work and to ensure that it would be perpetuated after her death. Nancy Rambush attempted to
Americanize the Montessori Method and founded the American Montessori Society (AMS) in
1960. What is most important to note about the two branches is that both are currently in
preschools throughout the United States, and both have excellent programs with credentials for
teachers. Also, both AMI and AMS support the use of Montessori materials. These learning
materials are “self -correcting;” they can only be used by a child in one way, thus avoiding the
possibility of the child learning the wrong way to use them.

What Are Montessori’s Main Components?

Social

The link between family and school is important. Most Montessori classrooms have multiple age
groups, which are intended to give children more opportunity to learn from each other.

Montessori advocated that children learn best by doing. In order to help children focus, the
teacher silently demonstrates the use of learning materials to them. Children may then choose to
practice on any material they have had a “lesson” about. Once children are given the lesson with
the material, they may work on it independently, often on a mat that designates their space.

Curriculum

There is a belief in sensory learning; children learn more by touching, seeing, smelling, tasting,
and exploring than by just listening. The child’s work as a purposeful, ordered activity toward a
determined end is highly valued. This applies both to exercises for practical life and language.

The main materials in the classroom are “didactic.” These are materials that involve sensory
experiences and are self-correcting. Montessori materials are designed to be aesthetically
pleasing, yet sturdy and were developed by Maria Montessori to help children develop
organization. Evans (1971) summarized the preschool curriculum in a Montessori program as
consisting “…of three broad phases: exercises for practical life, sensory education, and language
activities (reading and writing).” (p. 59)

Environmental Set-Up

Montessori believed that the environment should be prepared by matching the child to the
corresponding didactic material. The environment should be comfortable for children (e.g.,
child-sized chairs that are lightweight). The environment should be homelike, so child can learn
practical life issues. For example, there should be a place for children to practice proper self-help
skills, such as hand washing. Since Montessori believed beauty helped with concentration, the
setting is aesthetically pleasing. In the setting, each child is provided a place to keep her own
belongings.

What Is Unique About the Program?

The environment is prepared with self-correcting materials for work, not play. The Montessori
Method seeks to support the child in organization, thus pretend play and opportunities to learn
creatively from errors are less likely to be seen in a Montessori classroom. Chattin-McNichols
(1992) clarifies how Piaget, often called the “father of constructivism,” and Montessori both
agreed that children learn from errors, yet the set-up in which errors may occur is controlled
differently in the Montessori classroom. The didactic, self-correcting materials assist controlling
error versus an adult correcting the child.

How Can One Tell If a School Is Truly Following the Montessori Method?

The first step to ensure whether a school truly practices the Montessori Method is making sure
that its teachers are AMI or AMS credentialed. Not every Montessori school has teachers with
Montessori training. Although Montessori schools are sometimes thought of as being elitist
institutions for wealthy families, this is not true. There are many charter and public Montessori
schools. Nor, despite the fact that Montessori began her work with poor special needs children in
Rome, are Montessori schools reserved for low -income children with disabilities.
The Reggio Emilia Approach History

 Reggio Emilia is a small town of about 130,000 people in Northern Italy. In 1991,
Newsweek magazine noted that the system of 33 infant/toddler schools and preschools in
Reggio Emilia were among the ten best school systems in the world. Over the last 35
years, the teachers in the Reggio Emilia schools have taken the time to carry out a
process of collaborative examination and analysis of teaching and learning about
children. This examination and analysis has broadened constructivist theory, and the
results have been demonstrated to experts in education. (As previously mentioned,
“constructivist theory” refers to learning by doing and the development of knowledge and
understanding based on the child’s own interests.) For example, in The Hundred
Languages of Children (1998) Gardner recognizes how the Reggio approach beautifully
connects important early childhood theory with practice.

The Reggio Emilia approach will be covered in greater detail than the High/Scope approach and
the Montessori Method for a number of reasons. First, familiarity with the Reggio Emilia
approach is integral to recent developments in early childhood theory and practice. The approach
reflects on both constructivism and co-constructivism. Furthermore, adaptations of the Reggio
Emilia approach have not been implemented as long as the other two program models in the
United States. Thus, fewer people have actually had experience with Reggio. And finally, it’s a
complex approach from a different culture.

What Are the Reggio Emilia Approach’s Main Components?

Social

Cooperation and collaboration are terms that stress the value of revisiting social learning. First,
children must become members of a community that is working together (cooperation). Once
there is a foundation of trust between the children and adults, constructive conflict may be
helpful in gaining new insights (collaboration). Co-construction refers to the fact that the
meaning of an experience often is built in a social context. An atelierista is a teacher who has a
special training that supports the curriculum development of the children and other faculty
members. There is an atelierista in each of the Reggio Emilia preprimary schools.

Pedagogistas are built in as part of the carefully planned support system of the Reggio Emilia
schools. The word pedagogista is difficult to translate into English. They are educational
consultants that strive to implement the philosophy of the system and advocate for seeing
children as the competent and capable people they are. They also make critical connections
between families, schools, and community.

Curriculum
One of the special features of the Reggio Emilia approach is called “documentation.”
Documentation is a sophisticated approach to purposefully using the environment to explain the
history of project s and the school community. It does not simply refer to the beautiful classroom
artwork commonly found throughout schools following Reggio Emilia Approach. And, even
though it often incorporates concrete examples of both the processes and products that are part of
a child’s education, it is more than just that. It is a fundamental way of building connections.
Documentation is discussed in more detail in the next section that describes the uniqueness of the
Reggio Emilia Approach. Co-construction increases the level of knowledge being developed.
This occurs when active learning happens in conjunction with working with others (e.g. having
opportunities for work to be discussed, questioned, and explored). Having to explain ideas to
someone else clarifies these ideas. In addition, conflicts and questions facilitate more
connections and extensions. There is an opportunity to bring in different expertise. Thus, to
facilitate co-construction, teachers need to “aggressively listen” and foster collaboration between
all the members of the community whenever possible. Real learning takes place when they
check, evaluate, and then possibly add to each other’s work. Long-term projects are studies that
encompass the explorations of teachers and children. Flowcharts are an organized system of
recording curriculum planning and assessment based on ongoing collaboration and careful
review. Portfolios are a collection of a child’s work that demonstrates the child’s efforts,
progress, and achievements over time.

Environmental Set-Up

In Reggio Emilia, the environment is similar to that found in Montessori schools. However, the
environmental set-up as a “third teacher” has been enhanced and extended in the Reggio Emilia
approach. Like Montessori, it is believed beauty helps with concentration; the setting is
aesthetically pleasing. Reggio Emilia schools create homelike environments. In Reggio, the
homelike atmosphere is designed to help make children feel comfortable and learn practical life
issues. Each child is provided a place to keep her own belongings.

Documentation is a major part of the environmental set-up. Documentation illustrates both the
process and the product. In documentation, the child is seen as an individual but also in relation
to a group, with various possibilities for the individual.

What Is Unique About the Reggio Emilia Approach?

Reggio Emilia has become so popular in the early childhood field because it offers many unique
curriculum ideas, because of the strong infrastructure for the Reggio schools, and because of the
attention to co-construction.

 In terms of curriculum, the length and depth of projects is unique in the Reggio Emilia
Approach. According to Amelia Gambetti’s presentation for the University of Missouri
in Kansas City (April 15, 1993), three weeks is a relatively short project in the Reggio
Emilia schools.
 Using the environment as a third teacher is stressed in the Reggio Emilia Schools.
Documentation helps facilitate the environment as a teacher. There are numerous
connections to which documentation is integral. Three major connections are the
connection between: the many audiences (e.g., parents, children, administrators,
community, and staff personnel) and the experience the work itself and the producers
(e.g., by revisiting a project at a later time or by redoing a project using a different
medium) theory and practice
 Flowcharts enhance the Reggio curriculum. A flowchart records information in such a
way that one can see the step-by-step process of how relationships are built; them help
the teachers organize and keep in mind the nature and purpose of the curriculum. The
purpose of a flowchart is to tell the past (what happened before), the present (what is
being discussed now), and the future (what predictions can be made in preparation for
what may emerge). There is an excitement about this process because teachers will see
themselves as researchers and look for solutions. Flowcharts are an essential tool for
future consideration in establishing an ongoing process of documentation.
Flowcharts show acts across time. Therefore, as Forman (May 1995) mentioned in a
conversation to the researcher, flowcharts are more of a sequential representation than
webbing, which is more of a semantic net with no real flow to it.
The infrastructure, which has been in place for over 30 years and has low turnover, is also
unique to the Reggio Emilia Approach. The infrastructure includes atelieristas.
 Co-construction is strongly emphasized in the approach. For example, a child can
learn to construct knowledge with peers and adults. Co-construction emphasizes
the social nature of such activities in which cognitive conflict is emphasized.
How Can One Tell If a School Is Truly Following the Reggio Emilia
Approach?
Any school that claims to have a Reggio Emilia approach should be careful to remember
that we live in a different culture. Simply copying how the schools in Reggio Emilia
operate may miss the point. When someone visits a program that labels itself as a Reggio
Emilia school, it is important to hear that the school is an adaptation of the Reggio Emilia
approach and not just an attempt to copy it. This adaptation should show that careful,
purposeful discussion and collaboration is happening among the adults in adapting the
ideas from Reggio Emilia. This approach was never meant to provide a quick fix to
schools. Furthermore, it is helpful to understand why Reggio Emilia experts refer to this
as an “approach” and not a “model.” They call it an “approach” because it develops over
time with a careful reflection upon the population that is being served.
Thus the idea that a school can become a “Reggio Emilia school” overnight is unrealistic
and could be problematic. For example, teachers could misinterpret the approach and turn
their classes into a free-for-all or eclectic approach that does not help children make
strong, purposeful connections.
To see if a school is a good adaptation of the Reggio Approach, look for the following
indicators:
1. Teachers reflect on their teaching practices
2. Children are celebrated and seen as competent and capable
3. Teachers realize it’s an ongoing quest to capture what children are actually doing
4. The use of documentation is evident, and it truly illustrates the children’s explorations
(e.g., capturing the process children go through to come up with ideas and examining
children’s thought)
5. The teachers seek to learn, not copy, Reggio educators and adapt their knowledge in
the school
6. Relationships are important (for example teachers with families, children with
teachers, teachers with each other, etc.)
The Waldorf Approach
 Began in 1919, when Emil Molt, owner of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory
in Stuttgart asked Rudolf Steiner to establish a school for the children of his
workers
Fundamental to Waldorf education is the recognition that each human being is a unique
individual who passes through distinct life stages, and it is the responsibility of education
to address the physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs of each
developmental stage.
At Austin Waldorf School in Austin, Texas, our guiding values are these:
• A lifelong love of learning
• Creative thinking and self-confidence
• A sympathetic interest in the world and the lives of others
• An abiding sense of moral purpose
 Teachers create a school environment that balances academic, artistic, and
practical disciplines, as well as providing daily opportunities for both group and
individual learning. We develop these qualities in our students.
 Learning in a Waldorf school is an imaginative, enlivening, and creative process.
The artistic element is the common thread in every subject; teachers integrate art,
music, drama, storytelling, poetry, and crafts into the curriculum. Thus, students
learn with more than their heads; they learn with their heads, hearts and hands.
For example in first grade the Waldorf student learns to knit. This activity
develops the fine-motor skills of the child, ocular tracking, arithmetic (counting
stitches), concentration, and focusing on completion of a task.