Are you considering the Montessori method for your child? Are you aspiring to become a Montessori Teacher? Are you looking to enroll yourself in the AMI Montessori Training Course, Primary (3-6 yrs)? From August 16, 2017 till early February 2018, I was a trainee of the Navadisha Montessori Institute at Velachery where I had enrolled for the AMI Montessori Certification Course. I had a horrendous experience doing this course (I was recommended to audit) and I have detailed all about it in this post. In the process (as part of the course) I had been to Montessori Schools where teachers (AMI Certified) were looking after and teaching children using this method. Here are my observations and this post reveals it all. This is a fairly long read but I assure you, it will be worth your time.
First of all I must confess that I joined the AMI Montessori Primary course with a RAGE of a PASSION. I thought Montessori was the holy grail of alternative education for children but IT IS NOT. Here is a list of the 17 best alternative schools in India and not even one is a Montessori school.
17 best-known alternative schools in India, 2018
and here’s another link. Even this one doesn’t list a single Montessori school.
For an excellent compilation of alternative schools in India check out the link below where you can even search alternative schools by state in India. It came as a very big surprise that I just found 4 Montessori schools in the entire country of which only 3 were fully Montessori.
https://www.alternativeeducation.in/learning-spaces
And then there are fantastic schools that the above lists don’t cover. Here are two of them.
Here’s one that is run by Kiran Sethi, wife of billiards fame Geet Sethi.
http://www.schoolriverside.com/ I know a special child (child who had acute ADD problems) who after graduating is pursuing a course in design in an institute of repute in Bangalore.
And here’s another, Puvidham. This novel school is just incredible! You’ll have to watch the video below to believe. In fact the documentary itself was made by the 8’th graders from this amazing school.
More and more innovative methods for teaching children are cropping up all over the country and so it will be in your best interest to explore the one best for your child.
So coming back to the topic in question. What’s wrong with Montessori? Actually I was shocked with what I have observed and so I’ll call them shockers one by one and discuss them.
Shocker 1 – In the Primary classes of a Montessori School (Ages 3 – 6) children aren’t allowed to play. Isn’t this shocking? Even if there are playgrounds there is no scheduled “games period” or “playing time” for the children for all of the 3 years in the primary classes. Now if the trainers are telling you that in the Montessori system every act is play then I can only say, “Sorry No”. Play is something different and the Montessori method CANNOT be play. In fact it isn’t. In the 5 weeks of Observation and Teaching practice (which is part of the AMI Primary Montessori Certification course) I found just one exceptional case when some child had soiled the floor of the classroom and while the floor was being cleaned the children were taken out to play. And I cannot tell you what a joy and a release it was for the kids! Now THAT is play.
Shocker 2 – Each child does his or her own activity. Well that is what the Montessori method is all about. In demonstrations and exhibitions held abroad children are put in a glass cage like classroom (one of our trainers even said that one class was without any barriers) and children can be seen going about their work, unhindered, unobstructed, each child calmly doing his or her activity. While this is not an impossibility it is not always the case. Ideally we would all want it that way but that isn’t the case simply because children are unpredictable. And if they are forced to do things they are disinterested in they will resist or cry. Also, let us not name the act of forcing a child to do some activity as “disciplining”. That is precisely what I saw in the classrooms. Children being cajoled, coaxed and eventually forced to engage in some activity (I’ll come to activity soon) and they resist and even cry. In a class of 30 children you can imagine the chaos. Many a time children would get distracted, disturbed and would abandon work half way through and join another child doing another activity. While there are teachers who are kind and soft to children there were others, AMI Teachers who were strict and even very angry. Several of the children would walk away from the classroom and loiter around for hours before they would pick up any activity. Some presentations would last over an hour as the child would either not co-operate or show interest. So where is the freedom of the child that Montessori emphasized so much in her work. The problem is not entirely with the Montessori method but in the way it is being implemented.
Imagine the task of the teacher. In the classes where I had been to, 30 children were being monitored by 2 teachers. To me 30 children, each doing his or her own task is “chaos” and monitoring each of these 30 children and simultaneously giving presentations is nothing short of “hell”. It was already taking a toll on the teachers. One of the most nauseating thing that you’ll hear in a Montessori class is the teacher repeatedly pleading with children “I am sorry (name of the child) you can’t be doing this/ you are not supposed to do this / is this the way…..”. Now this command can get very stern as in, ” I am verrrry Sorrrrry (name of the child)……..” emphasizing anger and thorough disapproval. It is as though she wants to give the child a spanking but sadly she can’t do that as the Montessori method says, “no punishments or rewards”. But the teachers have other ways of punishing the children and these are listed below.
The teacher’s task gets even more complicated than that. I mentioned about activity. On my last count, there are well over 100 activities a Montessori child is presented between the ages 3 and 6. These include activities under Practical Life, Math, Sensorial and Language. Now do the math. The teacher has to present each of these 30 children, all of these presentations in the 3 years of primary school. Each child has to be given the presentation on an individual one-on-one basis at the appropriate ages. The onus is therefore to give the presentation at the right age of the child, not earlier or later. Apart from these, group presentations are there too that involve groups of 3 and more children. So she has to keep a tag (an accurate log) of each child separately. Imagine the difficulty of the task! Wouldn’t it be just nice if she could give a class to 15 or more children at a time as they do in normal schools? In fact this is what they do in several alternate schools as well.
Shocker 3 – No fairy tales, tales with morals, fantasy stories are to be told to children in the age group 3 – 6! Can you actually believe this? The Montessori Method for the age group 3 – 6 years insists that only stories related to real-life and believable events are to be told to children. A typical story would go like this –
Rama went to the store to buy a shirt. He liked a blue shirt. His mother asked him to try a red shirt instead. Rama liked the red shirt. His mother buys the red shirt for him. They then leave the store.
However contrary to this I found books in the “book corner” of Montessori classrooms where birds are talking, animals are talking and what not. How is this possible?
Shocker 4 – No punishments or rewards in the Montessori system? – This one literally shocked the hell out of me! There is no “practice what you preach” here. Children were punished in a myriad of ways, being given “Timeout” where the child is segregated and kept away in a corner of the class or outside the class is the most common one. I watched one child made to sit in the “Book Corner” for an entire day. Can you believe that!
One teacher was extremely rude, scaring the little ones with angry looks, talking to them in rude tones and holding firmly the little hands of children (wonder how much it hurt them), dragging and forcing them to a sit in a corner while giving them a “Timeout”. If only the parents of these children came to know of what was actually going on. It gets even worse. Continuously crying and wailing children were tightly held to her chest from their behind in almost martial-arts kind of a choke. Children would wail and cry but the teacher would remain unmoved no matter what. I could only pray the child would stop crying in these situations. It was absolutely painful to watch!
I had almost tears in my eyes when one very meek child was held back and rudely told that she would be made to leave the school after every child has left the class. The teacher was so stupid that she wasn’t able to identify the child that was screaming and mistook the meek girl among the children who were making loud noises when they were leaving for the day. I didn’t want to intervene as the teacher was already very in a very bad mood having taken over the class as the regular teachers were both absent for several days.
Other harsh punishments include a barring of talking to a child i.e no one is allowed to talk to a particular child if he or she has been found at fault by the teacher.
The most harshest of them was this. I saw this being done in two schools where I had been to for Observation and Teaching Practice. Children who are considered “unruly” are taken to other environments, i.e totally removed from their classmates and placed in another class. One can imagine the pain the child would be going through. The child in the new environment feels lost and subdued. He or she is kept there for hours, most of the time the child just sits in a place and does nothing. Their spirits are completely crushed. You wonder if these ladies had anything to do with children let alone be Montessori teachers. It is heart-breaking to watch these helpless children in these situations, their sad faces and tear-filled eyes.
Shocker 5 – Ludicrous teaching methods. Honestly I wonder what fun is there in using several of the methods. It is boring and tedious for the teachers too. Wonder if the child finds them fun. Take for instance the 1000 beaded chain for learning to count from 1-1000, that is 30 ft long. It cannot be laid out in most classrooms (not with 30 students doing their activities) and so the child has to take it out of the classroom (whatever happened to the prepared environment here?). I saw one child lay it out in the open outside the classroom. Others spiral it like a snake inside the classroom making it very inconvenient for the other children to perform their activities. Several other teaching methods in math are similarly very tedious and cumbersome. Then there are the list of Triangles to be learnt which even high school kids may not know, capitals, flags and important cities of all the countries in the world, there are even material which the child is asked to get familiar that is supposed to sow the seeds for Binomial and Trinomial expansions. All at an age between 3 – 6yrs?
AMI’s Primary Montessori course is to be completed in a period of 9 months, an excruciatingly painful course. In such as short time trainees go through so much tension and stress that it shows at their work too after certification. Or is the idea of AMI to spread Montessori philosophy as there is so much competition from other types of alternative schooling methods (Waldorf, Charlotte Mason, Reggio Emila, Sudbury Democratic) and therefore proliferate the society with Montessori teachers? I have observed a teacher surf the net and even sleep in class.
Do you really love teaching children? Are you looking continuously for better and better methods to teach little children? All I can tell you is that such methods are available. All you need is to seek out for them and mix and match then, try them for their efficacy and best, trust your common sense and see what works and what doesn’t. Some schools are doing this too, i.e making a good mix of various teaching methods. Each child is different and one method doesn’t work for all but if you love kids you’ll love the challenge. Montessori needs careful implementation. While several methods do work I will not say the same for many of them. Worst of all if teachers cannot love and understand children then even the most excellent method will fail as I have seen with AMI Certified Montessori teachers in Montessori classrooms.
Thanks Subash.
Your article was much helpful and your contribution to parents is highly appreciated,
Thanks for the detail explanation!
I appreciate your effort and straight forward post…its really helpful…
Thank u so much
Your article was clear
me too… decided to join AMI Montessori Primary course .It is my PASSION. I thought Montessori was the alternative education for children .
Thank God I watched your review
My kind request Pls.. suggest me the alternative course..to upgrade myself
Now am handling Nursery kids in TIME kids preschool .
Thank you Vidhya and sorry to reply late. If your passion is children then if you have genuine love for them, your job is almost done. Waldorf is not big in Chennai but they are huge in Hyderabad. One of the “teachers in training” at Navadisha Montessori is from Hyderabad and she said it was unbelievable what is going on at “Sloka” at Hyderabad. “Sloka” has been there for 40 years. You can read all about the school at http://slokawaldorf.org/ There are so many things in the Montessori system I found ridiculous which I have mentioned in detail in my review. Again in Waldorf I am not endorsing anything. There could be bad or unacceptable things there too. Newer systems such as Sudbury Democratic and Reggio Amelia are also getting popular. Please do your research and find what is best. In one school in Bangalore they do a mix of various methods, which I think is the best thing to do. All the best to you.
Hello mam, thanku for your honest post.
I’m currently staying in US. I’m planning to join AMI primary Montessori course in navdisha . After reading your post I’m little bit nervous . Once I done this course I can come back to US n work or start a day care I thought. I booked the ticket on July mid. I didn’t start the joining process in navdisha. Could you plz suggest what course I can do in Chennai n it b acceptable in US ? Plz help me mam. I did my engineering n after my 5 years of marriage i planned to take this as a option but after reading ur post I’m stepping back . Plz suggest a course if Montessori itself not a gud option to b choosen. Awaiting ur reply .
Hello Sowmya, Btw, I am a male (Subash), my last name has my mother’s name Lakshmi in it though. Thanks for reading my post and asking me for advice. The AMI is the most sought after and yes after doing this course it is accepted all over. But the question is why you need to do a stringent course as this and that too at Navadish where it is “hell”. You’ll definitely find the course more difficult than your Engineering. One Engineering classmate of mine even admitted that. Like I have written in my other post on the Montessori method, it isn’t the Holy grail of alternative education for teaching children. Therefore there are other systems too if you would like to explore suchas Waldorf, Regio Emilia, Sudbury Democratic which is from the USA (maybe you want to explore that, which has taken France in particular by storm). I know two schools who have adopted the Sudbury Democratic system in India. But if you are keen on Montessori you may want to consider CMTC (Chennai Montessori Training Centre) as Maria Montessori personally trained some of the people there. One of my friends did the Montessori Course at the CMTC and is currently working in a school in Thailand. So it isn’t a must to obtain the AMI certification to pursue a career in Montessori. Wishing you all the best in learning alternative methods to teach children.
Hello sir , sorry about misunderstanding ur name . Your post is really helpful. Your question is ryt why I choosed Montessori at navdisha . I like to be a teacher for kids around 3 to 6 or till 12 and in future if I return from US, I heard that through AMI certification i can try other countries too. One of my cousin’s friend who is at Mumbai told about this school n about AMI . So I choosed navdisha. But now I’m dropped about joining in navdisha.
I don’t have much knowledge on this path. Waldorf, Regio Emilia, Sudbury Democratic the listed teaching options are available in India ? If so plz share the details sir , it b helpful for me to enquire further. If everything goes well will join the above any one . Meanwhile I’m looking forward to contact Chennai Montessori training institute as well .
Awaiting ur kind reply .
Hello Sowmya, Thanks for getting back. What is disappointing about the AMI Certification and the course at Navadisha is that it is extremely strict. One wonders why trainees have to go throught such a strict course to teach little children between 3 – 6yrs. It is true AMI Certification is accepted worldwide but I was also told that the course is strict anywhere you do it. Do check CMTC’s course because I know someone who did it there and as I mentioned earlier is currently working in a school in Thailand. I wonder if the course at CMTC will be conducted as strictly as it is conducted in Navadisha. At Navadisha I even mentioned that their course needs to be longer. Navadisha’s course is crammed up in 8 months and there’s a ton to do and learn. The course in CMTC is almost 1 year. Details of CMTC’s course can be got here, http://www.cmtcindia.org/cmtc-primary-course.html I don’t know if there is any training institute for Reggio Emillia or Sudbury Democratic but there is training for Waldorf. It is offered by Sloka in Hyderabad a Waldorf school of repute (they have been around for decades). Check this link http://slokawaldorf.org/teacher-training-2/. On this page there is all the contact information you need. You can also register online. There is Waldorf Training offered in Chennai and Mumbai too. However the one offered at Sloka seems superior to me. The course at Sloka is also taught by teachers from other countries. The course in Chennai is stretched across several months. Please check the following link for details. https://www.iralearn.com/training Also, you may want to contact these institutes soon to find out when these courses begin. The Waldorf course in Chennai begins on May 18. All the very best.
I have no experience with Montessori in India, but I am sorry that you had such a bad experience. Yes, having a choice in education is wonderful. Matching a child’s personality to a great program also terrific. But condemning Montessori without truly knowing what it CAN be is a disservice to parents. Having spent the last 30 years involved in Montessori, first as a parent and now as an educator, children in the U.S.A. who attend Montessori schools are happy, peaceful, fulfilled, excited learners who eagerly explore the classroom, but more importantly every aspect of the world. They grow up to be outgoing, organized, socially responsible adults with great communication skills, an appreciation for others and an open mind. And yes, they have outdoor time throughout the day.
Your blog is misleading. You mention several aspects of classrooms you have seen, but without understanding anything about the reasons why. That’s not an impartial judgement. I hope that anyone who reads your blog will do the research for themselves.
Donna, first of all I appreciate you for taking the time to comment on my blog. As a person who sincerely tries to explore newer ideas to educate the young ones please don’t misunderstand that my view of Montessori is a totally antagonist one. In fact I went to learn the Montessori system considering it the Holy Grail of edcuation for children. In my post I DO have mentioned that there are several things that are good in the Montessori system but there are also big pitfalls that I cannot ignore. More than a disservice I consider this as “a service” to educate parents about Montessori. I sincerely ask parents to read my findings and then do their own research and then decide if Montessori is right for their children.
Your first line in your comment says it all, “I have no experience with Montessori in India…”. True, one has to visit Montessori schools in India to actually know what’s going on. Here children (Observing the 3-6 yr olds) have literally zero outdoors time. For children in the age group 3 – 6 yrs, this is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE. How can there be when the teacher has to ensure that so many tasks each child has to complete in the stipulated time. Besides these there are several other aspects that are horribly wrong. No wonder with over hundreds of Montessori Schools in India not one Montessori based school is in the top 25 best schools of India.
In my opinion it takes immense care to implement the Montessori system in India. Also, one solution cannot simply work everywhere which means Montessori is NOT the Holy Grail when it comes to children education. The very fact that there are so many others is ample proof that Montessori isn’t the last word when it comes to child education. Take for instance Reggio Emilia Education for children which ironically comes from Italy, the same country as Montessori. Then there’s Waldorf, Charlotte Mason, Sudbury Democratic. And have you researched ‘Living Wisdom Schools”?
Each child even in a Montessori classroom is different. And if I have reported the things going on in Montessori schools run by AMI teachers one wonders what’s going with the rest of the Montessori schools. Charlotte Mason in particular was critical of the Montessori technique. You can find details of a letter she wrote about the Montessori method here. Being an educator yourself I highly implore you to read this letter to find out CM’s brilliant analysis about the Montessori method which I also agree with.
One thing that I and another trainee wanted to know is how Montessori Students are going to to take on the real world which is not the “flowery soft and sweet” environment that is in their class (well in India it isn’t that flowery and sweet for sure). If I can find that testimonial of the Montessori student on YouTube I’ll provide a link here. He was complaining how difficult it was to be thrust into the world of backstabbing, foul mouthing, violence, deceit and heartlessness and how years of Montessori education were useless in all these situations and that he had to learn the very painful way to survive this harsh and bitter world. This is where we need to find out how these holes in the Montessori system can be filled in with methods from other systems.
You mentioned that I do not understand several parts of the environment. Let me ask you to explain something that I had discussed in my post. Why should a child between the age of 3-6 yrs in Montessori learn to count from 1 – 1000 and that too using an unconventional apparatus 30 feet long. One child snaked the entire apparatus inside the class causing so much conflict and confusion to the other children in class. Whatever happened to Montessori’s respecting personal space or non-interfering with others’ work here. In another school one child took it outside the classroom and had laid it out in the open under the hot sun. Any parent would understand the absurdity of this exercise whether they understand Montessori or not. Another thing parents should ask is why is a child in this age group (3-6 yrs) asked to play with apparatuses that lay the foundation for binomial and trinomial equations in the mind of the child. 9 out of 10, why even 10 out of 10 adults will not know binomial and trinomial equations. Then why make the child, this young, learn it? Is there any scientific evidence that this helps children with the dealing and solving of binomial and trinomial equations later on? Even if it did why should every child be forced to learn this? Even if parents are wondering if there could be something fantastic with these types of unconventional training the fact that NO fables, NO stories with morals, NO stories of Saints, Heroes or fiction and imagination are to be told to the children is not going to down easy on them. It is JUST UNACCEPTABLE that stories of imagination and fantasy are not to be told to the little ones. And as self-contradicting to this concept the book corner in the Montessori classrooms here are filled with stories of birds and animals talking, dancing and what not. Contrary to this the Charlotte Mason method (available for free on the internet for Grades 0 – 12 that tens and thousands or probably more families use for home schooling) encourages Bible Stories from Grade 1. How fascinating can that be!
Montessori in India is being marketed like the Emperor’s Clothes from the famous story. I highly recommend parents do their research well before opting for Montessori for their precious little children.
Thanks for the eye opener about Navadisha! But I would like to clarify, as a parent of 2 kids who went to Montessori schools, that not all schools are like that. The one that my kids went to, had plenty of playtime, after snacks and lunch, and I have often seen kids roaming about in class freely if they are not intending to work on any material. So, I guess it depends on the school and one has to do proper research (as you had said), before choosing a school for their kid and not just go by the ‘Montessori’ name.
Well said, not every school that implements Montessori may be doing this i.e no playtime or freetime. But the ones I went to, the so called AMI Certified Teacher’s run schools did not. It was alarming. Childhood without playtime, without exploration?
Hello Subash Sir,
Could you elaborate on CMTC? When I opened the link provided by you, the page collapses.
Sorry it is IMT, https://www.indianmontessoricentre.org/ They have Online and Correspondence courses too, though classroom training is the best.
I’m in the US and all of these things are NOT how a true Montessori school should be. Montessori is not trademarked, AMI of course is supposed to be the “gold standard,” but unfortunately this is not always the case.
If anyone is interested in learning more about the *authentic* and *original* Montessori method, please see here. https://www.reddit.com/r/Montessori/comments/hhrob7/montessori_a_gettingstarted_guide/
This is what you SHOULD see in a real Montessori school:
https://hollismontessori.org/blog/2020/8/1/considering-montessori-heres-what-to-look-for
https://www.guidepostmontessori.com/blog/what-makes-a-montessori-school-authentic-step-by-step-checklist
https://www.maitrilearning.com/blogs/pedagogy-blog/157273607-what-youll-see-in-a-great-montessori-school