We’ll fund Montessori and Steiner schools, say Tories
PARENTS will be able to send their children to state-funded Montessori and Steiner schools as part of a proposed Tory shake-up of school funding.
Under the radical new rules, parents, charities and voluntary groups will be given the right to apply for state funding for more alternative schools to be set up and be free from the national curriculum.
The Montessori method of teaching, developed in 1907, encourages youngsters to learn at their own pace and allows children to choose what activities they want to engage in, while tests are discouraged.
Steiner schools avoid teaching reading until the age of seven and are based on a system which values spiritual and emotional development in children as highly as teaching them the ‘three Rs’ .
Tory schools spokesman Michael Gove said parents should be given the opportunity to chose what type of education they want for their children.
He said: “If we are about enabling choice and diversity, it is only right to allow both movements to become essentially state-funded schools.”
Schools would receive funding for the pupils but would have to offer an open selection process and produce a viable business plan.