The Montessori method of education was developed by Dr. Maria Montessori in the early 20th century. Montessori observed young children and realized they have an innate desire to learn. Her educational philosophy and pedagogy focused on fostering children’s natural curiosity and building their independence.
The Montessori method came to Canada in the 1930s and soon small Montessori schools began emerging, primarily in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. However, it wasn’t until the 1960s and 1970s that the Montessori movement really took off in Canada. During this time there was growing interest in alternative education and child-centered approaches. More and more Montessori schools opened and Canadian training centers were established to certify Montessori teachers.
Today there are over 500 Montessori schools across Canada, ranging from preschool to high school. The vast majority are privately run schools, but there are a handful of public Montessori programs as well. While Ontario and British Columbia have the greatest concentration of Montessori schools, they can be found in all 10 Canadian provinces and 3 territories.
The Canadian Montessori Council
In 1987, Montessorians came together to create the Canadian Montessori Council/Conseil Canadien de Montessori (CCMA). This national organization aims to further the Montessori movement in Canada and support both schools and teachers. They provide teacher training and professional development, consultations for new schools, a job board, student scholarships and more. The CCM/CCM also oversees the certification of Canadian Montessori teacher training centers and upholds quality standards and best practices for Montessori education.
Montessori Teacher Training in Canada
One of the keys to quality Montessori education is having well-trained teachers. In Canada, those who wish to teach at a Montessori school must complete an accredited Montessori teacher education program, which includes theoretical learning on Montessori principles and extensive hands-on practice with the Montessori materials. Programs are generally one or two years long, depending on the age level an individual wishes to teach.
The CCM/CCM has certified over 30 Montessori teacher training centers across Canada. Some are affiliated with universities, colleges and institutes, while others are independent training centers. For example, the Toronto Montessori Institute has been training Montessori teachers since 1968, while the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies in Calgary opened in the early 2000s. Teacher training centers can be found in nearly every Canadian province and territory.
Montessori Classrooms in Canada
The hallmark of Montessori classrooms everywhere, including Canada, is the thoughtfully prepared environment. Great care goes into designing beautiful, peaceful spaces that inspire learning. Classrooms are equipped with child-sized furniture, plenty of open floor space for movement, and rows of meticulously arranged shelves holding a variety of manipulative materials that cater to hands-on learning in areas like practical life, sensorial exploration, mathematics, language, science and culture.
Mixed age groupings are standard in Montessori classrooms, which fosters peer learning and reduces competition. Children have large blocks of uninterrupted work time to follow their interests – ideally at least three hours – as well as opportunities to collaborate and socialize. Montessori guides closely observe each child to determine and optimally match developmental readiness with appropriate lessons and activities. Classrooms aim to have a balanced demographic composition and promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
Montessori Preschools and Kindergartens
The majority of Montessori schools in Canada are preschools and kindergartens that serve children from infancy through around age 6. During these critical early years of development, Montessori environments nurture and inspire young children, laying a solid foundation for later learning. The toddler and preschool curriculums focus on practical life activities like pouring, scooping, sorting and scrubbing, which develop coordination and concentration while also fostering independence and self-confidence. Beautiful sensorial materials sharpen the senses across modalities like vision, touch, sound and smell. Early math materials give concrete form to abstract concepts like quantity, symbol and sequence. Language development is strengthened through storytelling, books and vocabulary building. The enriching environments spark curiosity about the natural world, human geography and culture. Through it all, activities progress from simple to complex, concrete to abstract, promoting executive functioning in addition to academic skills.
Montessori Lower and Upper Elementary
The Montessori approach extends seamlessly into the elementary years, generally grouped into lower elementary covering ages 6-9 and upper elementary spanning ages 9-12. At this stage, learning moves beyond sensorial exploration to true intellectual inquiry. Key academic areas like language arts, mathematics and geometry, history, geography, biology and more are woven together into an integrated whole. The interdisciplinary Montessori elementary curriculum, guided by imaginative and impressively detailed learning materials, seeks to ignite children’s passion and build their capacity for self-directed investigation of meaningful concepts and “big ideas” across disciplines.
Storytelling, timelines and golden bead materials help lower elementary children connect history into a unifying narrative. Beautifully illustrated geology, biology and geography materials explore natural wonders and human-environment interactions across time and place. Bead frames, charts and concrete models support upper elementary students in analyzing grammatical structures and mathematical operations at an increasingly abstract level. Children are stimulated to question, research, experiment and ultimately construct their own understanding. The elementary journey culminates with interdisciplinary, student-designed projects exploring topics of personal interest and global significance.
Montessori Adolescent Programs
Montessori education extends into the adolescent years via middle and high school programs for ages 12-15 and 15-18 respectively. These programs are founded on core Montessori principles like supporting self-construction of knowledge, preparing normalized environments that meet developmental needs, and guiding socio-emotional growth. Montessori adolescent programs maintain mixed age groupings and cultivate student-directed exploration. The curriculum grows increasingly sophisticated, with interdisciplinary projects, team-based experiments and in-depth research papers. With teacher guidance, students set individual academic goals, determine action plans and monitor their own progress.
Intellectual development is balanced with experiences designed to strengthen social skills, self-awareness, leadership and ethical character. Service learning, outdoor excursions and apprenticeship opportunities scaffold the transition to independence. Montessori adolescent programs prepare mature, curious and engaged learners equipped for college, career and purposeful adulthood. While Montessori middle and high schools are less common than elementary implementations in Canada, exemplary models like the adolescent program at the Calgary Montessori School prove highly robust.
Public Montessori Programs in Canada
Most Montessori programs in Canada are private schools that charge tuition, which presents a barrier to access for many families. However, a small number of public Montessori programs have taken root, primarily in British Columbia and Ontario. These public options offer Montessori education completely free of charge, democratizing access to students across socioeconomic backgrounds.
For example, over a dozen public elementary schools in British Columbia have adopted Montessori programs or offer school-within-a-school Montessori streams. One study on literacy outcomes found BC public Montessori students significantly outperformed non-Montessori counterparts. The success of these public programs demonstrates Montessori education can flourish within public systems given proper implementation conditions like small class sizes and teachers holding Montessori credentials. Moving forward, expanding access to public Montessori education in Canada remains an opportunity and imperative.
The Canadian Montessori Foundation
In 2012, Montessorians established the Canadian Montessori Foundation (CMF), a registered charity aiming to promote and spread Montessori education across Canada. Through fundraising initiatives and donor support, their goal is to provide grants and scholarships to schools, teachers and families. Some key CMF initiatives include: sponsoring Montessori teacher training for Indigenous educators, subsidizing classroom materials costs for new schools, funding research on Montessori outcomes, and giving scholarships to economically disadvantaged students to access quality Montessori education. By breaking down barriers, the CMF seeks to make Montessori education more equitable and accessible countrywide.
Montessori Outcomes for Canadians
Decades of research evidence support the effectiveness of Montessori education across domains of child development. Montessori children demonstrate strong academic outcomes in areas like reading, writing, math, science and social studies. However, advantages extend far beyond intellectual performance. Additional benefits encompass executive functioning, motivation to learn, social skills, self-regulation, mastery orientation, enjoyment of school and more.
Canadian studies reaffirm these global trends. One study by Dr. Angeline Lillard at the University of British Columbia found children in Montessori preschool programs significantly outperformed peers from conventional preschools on measures of academic skills, social problem-solving and mastery orientation. Researchers concluded Montessori pedagogy yields lasting cognitive and socioemotional advantages. Another Canadian study found adolescents in Montessori middle schools displayed greater empathy, assertiveness, emotional control and peer leadership versus non-Montessori students.
The positive outcomes of Montessori education underscore its value for child development and validate Canada’s flourishing Montessori community. With continued expansion, Montessori has the potential to transform early education and cultivate capable, empowered generations of lifelong learners across the country.