| No pre-determined curriculum; material for suitable stages of development is provided, and children choose the materials suitable to their own developmental stage. |
Teachers work to a set curriculum. |
| Children work at their own pace and are not hurried to meet a schedule. |
Teachers set the pace to get through the work in a specified time-frame. |
| Children are free to explore and discover on their own. |
Teachers enforce a lesson plan that is followed every day. |
| Emphasis is on the concrete, as abstract thinking is still developing. |
Emphasis on the abstract, which can be beyond the child’s capacity. |
| Reality orientated. Children want to explore the reality they live in. |
More role-play and fantasy. |
| Children are given a sense of order and responsibility – everything has to be returned to its place. |
Materials don’t necessarily need to go in the exact place from which they came. There is less sense of real order. |
| The learning environment is child-centred. |
The teacher is the centre of attention. |
| Children provide their own stimulation and motivation to learn. |
Teacher provides the stimulation and drives the learning process. |
| Montessori materials are designed to promote self-education and self-correction:“Inner motivation” rather than “external-motivation“ is encouraged to grow. |
Teachers use reward and punishment as a means to motivate education. |
| Montessori methods recognise children’s sensitive developmental and learning periods. |
Children are subjected to a generic approach and treated alike. |
| Maria Montessori designed multi-sensory materials develop specific skills. |
Play materials are for non-specific skills. |
| Children are free to move around the classroom and pick materials at will. |
Children have to sit in designated places and aren’t allowed to move without permission or choose their own materials. |
