Social Sciences and Humanities Open (Jan 2024)
Comparative analysis of the views of Montessori and Waldorf teacher trainers
Abstract
In our study we investigate the differences between the views of Waldorf and Montessori teacher trainers (NWaldorf = 8, NMontessori = 8) on the basis of structured interviews. The narrower, national relevance of our study is the Hungarian higher education accreditation efforts of the two school models, while the more general relevance is that we empirically test the theoretical distance between the two school concepts on a Hungarian sample. The aim of the study is therefore twofold: to identify the main theoretical differences between the two pedagogical approaches and to empirically test the presence or absence of these differences through the views of teacher trainers. Our results show that the teacher trainers of the two pedagogical approaches have partly moved away from their theoretical background and are divided on certain issues: Montessori teacher trainers are moving towards a focus on the development of large movements, while Waldorf teacher trainers are moving towards a better appreciation of science. As there is no state accreditation of Waldorf and Montessori teacher training courses in Hungary, we are also looking at the scientific attitudes of the teachers involved in teacher training.
