Montessori vs Waldorf
The key difference between Montessori and Waldorf is in the method of teaching followed by each school. The term Montessori is very common in all parts of the world, and one can see preschools, and even primary schools, having Montessori word included in their names. But the fact is that, Montessori is a style or methodology of teaching small children, and it was started by Maria Montessori in Rome in 1907. There is another teaching style called Waldorf that is very popular in many parts of the world. This methodology of imparting education to kids started in 1919 when Rudolf Steiner opened the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart, Germany. There are many similarities in these two types of schools, though they also have distinguishing characteristics, which will be discussed in this article.
The reason behind starting Montessori and Waldorf style of schools was that their founders felt that formal education was dreadful for children, and they needed to be initiated gradually to formal subjects in such a manner that they took interest in studies on their own and did not feel studies being thrust upon them. However, Montessori and Waldorf style schools differed in their approaches and style of teaching that they adopted.
What is Montessori?
Montessori style of teaching believes in allowing a child to choose what he wants to learn. So when the child exhibits interest in something, he is guided by the teacher to let him understand the concept behinds the object. However, Montessori schools do not pay much attention to spiritual and philosophical needs of children.
Montessori schools believe that toys have a great role to play in shaping up the behavior of kids, so they use specially designed toys, and allow kids to play with those Montessori designed toys only. Montessori toys are designed to help kids learn basic concepts while playing with them. Also, Montessori schools are of the opinion that modern techniques of computers and internet must be made use to help children learn their surroundings. However, they want a limit on the TV programs watched. They also do not want kids to make use of cell phones and MP3 players. In Montessori, much of what kids learn comes from the efforts of their teachers, though books start very early in the Montessori school.
What is Waldorf?
On the other hand, Waldorf School emphasizes on teacher based learning. Here, the teacher chooses what the child needs to learn or understand. However, in Waldorf, there is a greater emphasis on nurturing a child’s own creativity. Waldorf Schools have a philosophy that, to understand the nature and natural phenomenon, students must have an understanding of humanity. Waldorf schools let child’s own creativity guide him in his endeavor even when playing and encourage kids to develop their own toys with whatever they have at hand.
The Waldorf school also thinks that media should only have a limited impact on a child’s life. This is why one does not find the use of media for teaching in Waldorf schools. One would find children of small ages play a lot more in Waldorf style of schools than in Montessori style of schools. Also, there is a total absence of textbooks in early stages in Waldorf School.
What is the difference between Montessori and Waldorf?
• Montessori is a concept of teaching that was started by Maria Montessori in 1907. Waldorf is a concept of teaching that was started by Rudolf Steiner in 1919.
• Montessori style believes in allowing a child to choose what he wants to learn. So the child exhibits interest in something and is guided by the teacher to let him understand the concept behinds the object. On the other hand, Waldorf School emphasizes on teacher based learning,and here, teacher chooses what the child needs to learn or understand.
• Montessori schools do not pay much attention to spiritual and philosophical needs of children, whereas Waldorf Schools have a philosophy that to understand the nature and natural phenomenon, students must have an understanding of humanity.
• Waldorf schools let child’s own creativity guide him in his endeavor even when playing and encourage kids to develop their own toys with whatever they have at hand. On the other hand, Montessori schools believe that toys have a great role to play in shaping up the behavior of kids and they allow kids to play with toys specially designed for Montessori teaching.
• Both Montessori and Waldorf schools are of the opinion that modern techniques of computers and internet must be made use to help children learn their surroundings, but they want a limit on watching TV programs. They also do not want kids to make use of cell phones and MP3 players.
• One would find children of small ages play a lot more in Waldorf style of schools than in Montessori style of schools.
• In Waldorf, there is a greater emphasis on nurturing a child’s own creativity while, in Montessori, much of what kids learn comes from the efforts of their teachers.
• There is a total absence of textbooks in early stages in Waldorf School, while books start very early in Montessori schools.
Images Courtesy:
- A Montessori classroom in Indiana by KeynoteBakers (CC BY 2.0)
- Waldorf school classroom by File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske) (CC BY-SA 3.0)
