Parents’ understanding and reasons for their preferences for Montessori method: does the method entail the concept of inclusion in South Africa?

Abstract

The study aimed to examine parents’ understanding and reasons of preferences for the Montessori Method. Moreover, the study explores if the Montessori Method entails the concept of inclusion. In order to do this, a number of subsidiary questions were addressed, including: What are parents’ understanding of the Montessori Method? To what extent does the Montessori Method aid inclusivity? Which reasons make parents prefer the Montessori Method in particular for their children? and What is parents’ awareness of their children’s need/s when selecting the Montessori Method? In order to answer these questions, the researcher conducted surveys and interviews from two Montessori schools; one situated in Melville and the other in Sandton, South Africa. The study was anchored on the pragmatic paradigm and within it, the concurrent triangulation design was adopted whereby both quantitative and qualitative data were collected simultaneously to obtain results. For the quantitative phase, a sample size of 30 parents was obtained using the census sampling technique, during which the respondents were selected. For the qualitative phase, 10 parents were selected by means of the purposive sampling technique. The survey data was subjected to suitability tests using the Kaiser-Meyer-Oklin measure of sampling adequacy (KMO Index) and the Bartlett's Test of Sphericity to determine the constructs' internal validity. The internal consistency of the instruments was assessed using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient test. All of the sub-scales met the required level of internal consistency and reliability, according to the findings. The trustworthiness of qualitative data from interviews was also ensured. To summarize the quantitative data, descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used. The qualitative data analysis comprises of the thematic analysis of data collected. The study findings reported that parents’ understanding of the Montessori Method varied and it can therefore be interpreted as comprising problem-solving skills, independence and a social development method. From the quantitative results, the parents were of the opinion that in most cases, the Montessori Method aided inclusivity. The findings also reported that parents preferred the Montessori Method due to many reasons such as cognitive development, collaborative learning, student inquiry, self-learning, physical development, emotional development and spiritual development. Finally, the findings indicated that parents viewed the Montessori Method as diverse and inclusive as both abled learners and learners with physical and mental differences were are present in Montessori schools. From the study results, it can be concluded that most parents indeed understand their respective child/children’s need/s when selecting the Montessori Method. The study recommends that the Department of Social services develop programs to enhance varied inclusive practices in Montessori schools for different special needs among learners. This would help Montessori schools accommodate more learners with special needs.