How is Garodia FinlandWay® different from Montessori?
We often get asked what is the difference between Garodia
FinlandWay® and Montessori. In this blog post, we
dive deeper into the similarities and differences between these
two programmes.
At Garodia FinlandWay®, we always follow the newest
research in the fields of neurobiology, educational science, and
developmental psychology. We look at a child through a whole-child
approach, where children are seen as biological, psychological, and
social beings, who develop and learn in all these fields through
physical, cognitive, and social learning.
The learning paradigm of Garodia FinlandWay® follows
the socio-cultural understanding of learning, where children are
seen as active agents of learning and competent learners. In the
Garodia FinlandWay® programme, they gain
learning-to-learn competencies and capabilities to control and guide
their learning.
The Montessori programme is based on the constructivist
learning paradigm, where children’s learning follows a pre-set
path. Children are considered as sensory-motor actors, who
explore their environment through their primary senses (touch,
smell, and taste) following four developmental periods. It
emphasises personal and individual learning paying less
attention to social and shared learning and problem-solving
activities.
Curriculum and structures of teaching
When the image of a child is compared with the existing
curricula of Garodia FinlandWay® and Montessori,
both similarities and differences can be found. The Montessori
system is based on sensory adaptation, which naturally offers
toddlers a safe and easy environment to start exploring and
learning. These same elements for toddlers are also found in the
Garodia FinlandWay® system, which is based on the
Early Education practices and curriculum from Finland.
Montessori has a strong emphasis on fine motoric skills and children
becoming independent. Garodia FinlandWay® shares the
view of children as active agents and the importance of empowering
children to try and learn to do things by themselves.
In Montessori, language learning is added on top of the sensory
exploration philosophy. Evans (1971) summarized the preschool
curriculum in a Montessori programme as consisting “…of three broad
phases: exercises for practical life, sensory education,
and language activities (reading and writing).” (p. 59). Instead of
consequential phases, Garodia FinlandWay® is built on
a holistic and phenomenon-based curriculum, where language and
communication are part of the image of children as active
meaning-makers and learners.
In Garodia FinlandWay® the role of language is
understood as a tool of communication that evolves and develops
constantly through the teaching, teacher-child interaction and
peer-to-peer communication within learning structures.
Finally, in Garodia FinlandWay® the daily and weekly
structures are developed to support the holistic development and
learning of children in a group, their involvement and participation
through accurately-timed scaffolding, noticing their strengths and
areas of interest. While in Montessori the structure is more relaxed
and child-initiated.
Teacher's role and professional development
The teacher's goal at Garodia FinlandWay® is to
help and encourage children, allowing them to develop confidence
and inner discipline so that there is less and less need to
intervene as the child develops. In both Montessori and Garodia
FinlandWay® the structure and philosophy of
teaching are based on scaffolding and supportive teaching, not
frontal instructions.
However, some differences prevail: In Montessori, the teacher
education programmes involve a year or more of full-or part-time
study before working in a school environment. Courses are organised
by private educational organisations. After graduating there are no
requirements to mentor younger teachers or up-skill further. Garodia
FinlandWay® teacher training is blended with the
curriculum and the programme. Garodia FinlandWay®
offers teachers an ongoing online learning community and regular
on-the-job assignments to ensure continuous learning and upkeep of
professional competencies.
Teaching in Garodia FinlandWay® is based on three
pedagogical methods, developed and constantly updated as per
Finland’s national early education system: Playful learning,
participatory pedagogy, and Phenomenon-based learning. These offer
research-based tools and methods for teachers to enable high-quality
learning and development of children in their classes.
Teachers support their own learning by creating experiences of
influencing and belonging and focusing on building an exploratory,
participatory learning culture in and across the classroom, school,
and home.
Conclusion
As described above Garodia FinlandWay® and
Montessori are built on the same principles of seeing children
as active learners, respecting their individuality, and
understanding the importance of the learning environment.
Garodia FinlandWay® believes in the power of play
and exploration rather than completing tasks under a specific
category one by one. The learning environment in Garodia
FinlandWay® is transformable and created with the
children, not only for the children. More than Montessori,
Garodia FinlandWay® emphasizes the social element
of learning, both between children and children and teachers.
The Garodia FinlandWay® method leans heavily on
the latest research of early childhood development and supports
each individual in their development through joint
meaning-making in play- and participation. A school can make
sustainable choices and teachers benefit from ongoing on-the-job
development.
Be a part of the Finlandway program at Garodia FinlandWay® and
experience holistic learning with the World’s best early education
programme for the first time in India. The above blog is a reference
to how FinlandWay® international network of schools’ teaching is
different from the Montessori education system.
