蒙台梭利教育入驻深圳

   Wang Yuanyuan

    cheekywang@hotmail.com

    The Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) recently opened its first international kindergarten in Nanshan District.

    About 180 children are attending the kindergarten. More than 30 percent of them are from overseas countries or regions and 50 percent are from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan.

    “The Montessori education system has gained big success in preschool education around the world, so we want to bring this new type of education to children in Shenzhen,” said Michael Guo, a representative of the AMI’s China region.

    Tuition for the kindergarten is about 70,000 yuan (US$11,291) a year.

    “There have been growing numbers of foreigners and high-income local families in Shenzhen, so we are very confident in the market for high-quality international education,” Guo said.

    The AMI also has established an international education training center in Shenzhen, to help educators learn Montessori concepts. The teaching program is similar to a graduate-level course, the AMI said, and graduates can teach at the 8,000 Montessori kindergartens around the world.

    All kindergarten teachers, including those from overseas, can apply for the program.

    “They will have the chance to receive education and social practice at kindergartens and training centers in other Montessori training centers around the world,” Guo said.

    The center is the first of its kind in Shenzhen, said an official from the Peninsula Education Group surnamed Xie.

    The center will regularly hold academic seminars and events involving preschool and kindergarten education.

    Montessori is an educational approach developed by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori. It’s practiced in about 8,000 kindergartens and schools around the world, serving children from birth to 18 years old. It is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development.

    China’s first Montessori training center was established in Hangzhou in 2007. The educational method has expanded to other parts of the country since 2011, due to increasing demand. About 1,000 teachers and assistants have received training at Montessori centers in China so far.