Will failed Montessori school take the advice it badly needs?

The news that Discovery Montessori Free School, near Crawley in West Sussex,  failed its recent Ofsted  inspection in June is incredibly disappointing for the British Montessori movement, particularly as the majority of Montessori nurseries have done so well, with 88 per cent reaching good and outstanding outcomes in their recent Ofsted visits. While we recognise that the inspection criteria applied to free schools are different to those used in nurseries operating within the Early Years Foundation Stage framework, there is no reason why any Montessori school should not meet the teaching and learning criteria.  It is one of the principles of the Montessori approach to focus and monitor individual progress of pupils in an environment where activities are designed to scaffold children’s learning in small, manageable, yet challenging steps.

The trustees of the Montessori St. Nicholas Charity, which funds the Montessori Schools Association (MSA), a membership organisation representing over 650 Montessori settings in this country, are particularly frustrated at this outcome, because they made several attempts to offer support to the school.  The chief executive of the charity, Philip Bujak, highlighted the importance of setting criteria for Montessori schools becoming free schools during his conversations with civil servants at the outset of the free school movement.  The school was also invited to participate in Montessori schools accreditation scheme. 

This scheme, established in 2008, receives significant monetary support from the charity, and is managed by the Montessori Evaluation and Accreditation Board (MEAB).  The aims of this quality assurance programme are to support settings committed to ongoing reflection and improvement of their practices.  Its criteria are set out in a self-evaluation document which serves as the basis for two accreditation visits. During the first visit recommendations are made, the settings prepare an action plan and prioritise implementations of the recommendations made.  The second visit enables the setting to demonstrate the implementation of the action plan.  The assessment is conducted by carefully selected and trained Montessori peer assessors.  Their reports are published and presented to the MEAB Board for validation and published on the MSA database. 

To date, 150 of the MSA schools have participated in the voluntary MEAB scheme, the majority have engaged in the re-accreditation of their setting following the initial three year accreditation period.  Most of the schools engaged in the programme have been acknowledged by Ofsted for their genuine commitment to ongoing improvements in their practice and majority received outstanding outcomes in their Ofsted inspections. 

Parents are increasingly seeking Montessori schools which have been accredited and carry the MEAB logo. They enquire from school proprietors why they are not accredited.  One of the parents from Discovery Montessori in fact approached the Charity via our blog, confirming that, in her view, Osfted was right in their judgement, and hoping that the school will seek peer support from MEAB in their action plan outlining their journey towards improvement.  It remains to be seen if this will happen. 

Barbara Isaacs is the academic director of Montessori Centre International and senior accreditation officer, Montessori Evaluation and Accreditation Board