History of Montessori in Japan
Over the last 100 years, the Montessori philosophy has spread to nations around the world, and Japan is no exception. The first introduction of Montessori education into Japanese society is believed to have been an article entitled “Yorozuchouhou,” published in a Japanese newspaper on January 11, 1912. Kiyomaru Kono, who started translating several of Montessori’s books into Japanese around 1915, put this method into practice in his elementary school in Tokyo.
The proliferation of Montessori schools in Japan, however, did not begin until approximately twenty years after World War II, around the period of the so called “Montessori revival.” In 1964, Tsuneyoshi Tsuzumi adapted his daycare center in Kyoto to practice the Montessori Method. Fr. Heidrich, Professor of Sophia University, started “Umeda Children’s House” with eight children in Tokyo in 1965. In 1968, he was one of several committee members who helped to establish Japan Association Montessori (JAM). JAM is the largest association of Montessori education in Japan, currently consisting of about 700 teachers, with membership being open to any Montessori teachers. JAM has also certified several Montessori teacher-training programs by investigating the programs’ compliance with their criteria. In spite of these efforts, the number of certified programs is still small, most likely due to the complicated and time-consuming certification process. As of 2010, only six programs have been certified by JAM.
Another significant development in Japanese Montessori history, was the establishment of an international teacher-training center accredited by the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) by Ms. Shizuko Matsumoto in 1975. Ms. Matsumoto was the first Japanese AMI certified Montessori trainer and her training center, The Montessori Institute of Tokyo, continues to train teachers in the Tokyo area. Now there are two more AMI accredited training courses, one in Yokohama and another in Osaka. Some international schools, which are not bound by Japanese government regulations, have successfully implemented Montessori classrooms at the 3-6 age, while offering traditional education from 1st to 12th grade. St Maur International School and Seisen International School are examples of these. The Montessori School of Tokyo is the only Montessori school in Japan with an elementary program, accepting students aged two to twelve years old. This school is directed by Pete Juds and is only the school in Japan that is fully accredited by the International Montessori Council (IMC). In this school, all Montessori teachers are accredited by AMI training centers, including Japanese training centers.
Our Training Program
There are many other Montessori teacher-training programs that are independent of JAM. Our program is independent of JAM, although it is accredited by the university, with 309 university students having been trained to date. Notre Dame Seishin Kindergarten was founded in 1965 as part of the university, although the Kindergarten did not use the Montessori Method in the beginning. Our university developed an interest in this method after it was introduced by Mrs. Kiyoko Okuyama, who had earned a Montessori Diploma in a specialized program at the College of Notre Dame, Belmont, CA (USA) in 1969. Our university invited Sr. Christina Marie Trudeau, who was a vice-president of professional development for the American Montessori Society (AMS) at that time, to present many lectures on Montessori education across Japan between 1970 and 1981. With the aid of Sr. Trudeau, Mrs. Okuyama, and university president Sr. St. John Watanabe, our Montessori teacher-training program was established in 1971. Sr. Trudeau presented several lectures on the program each year through 1995 (Figure1). With the establishment of our training program, Montessori education was introduced in Notre Dame Seishin Kindergarten.
Our Kindergarten currently has nine classes with approximately 25-30 students each, including three classes for each age from age three to five. Although a regular Kindergarten accredited by the Japanese government is advised to form separate classes for each age, we opened a “Montessori Children’s Room,” where children of any age can enter, every morning for the practice of Montessori education, and there, two Montessori teachers work exclusively in that room. Usually, there are more than thirty mixed-age children, at least 10 children of each age, in the room doing self-chosen work for approximately four hours a day. Mrs. Fumiko Fukuhara, who holds an AMI diploma for Primary education, has organized this room for five years.
Our Montessori teacher-training program is only open to senior students at the university. Several students enroll in the program every year. In that program, hands-on practice is held in the Montessori Children’s Room, and lectures are held at the university. Training lasts for one year and includes 180 hours of lectures and 90 hours of practice teaching. The examination is held at the end of the program and those that pass obtain certification from our university. We recognize that these requirements of our program are not sufficient as Montessori teacher training; however, there are other credits to be taken for university students, so the limitation as a university curriculum exists. We consider our program as an introductory course for Montessori education, and students who want to become Montessori teachers are advised to take additional accredited Montessori courses to obtain certification, such as those offered by AMI or AMS.
Questionnaires to Japanese Parents Regarding Montessori
With these Japanese independent programs, including ours, the number of Montessori teachers is gradually increasing in Japan. However, we should note that Montessori education continues to be less popular in Japan than in other countries, such as the United States, where it is estimated that more than 5,000 schools use the program.1 It is necessary for Japanese Montessori educators to determine the factors that impede the spread of this educational philosophy in Japan, and one of the possible factors may be the attitude of parents in Japan toward Montessori education.
We have conducted an investigation by analyzing questionnaires distributed to parents whose children were enrolled in the Montessori class in Notre Dame Seishin kindergarten. The questionnaire includes five items (original questions were in Japanese). In order to decrease gender bias, all answers were collected from mothers (no child in our school was in the care of a single father). Question 1 was: When did you know the term Montessori education? which was intended to clarify the time when mothers first recognized the term Montessori education, regardless of the depth of understanding. Question 2 was: Have you ever read a book relating to Montessori education? which reflected the percentage of mothers who had read at least one article on Montessori education, showing how many mothers understand, to some extent, what Montessori education is. Question 3 was: Did you notice any abilities of your child in the Montessori class that you had ever not realized? and Question 4 was: If yes in Q3, what did you notice? Finally, Question 5 was: Which area of work do you want to practice with your child at home? Questions 3-5 deal with the impressions of mothers when they first see their child in a Montessori class. Before the observation day, mothers attended a short lecture that outlined the basics of Montessori education, including self-chosen work classified into five areas: practical life, sensorial, mathematics, language, and culture. We also introduced some materials used in the class such as the pink tower, a binomial cube, number rods and maps. After the mothers observed their child in a Montessori classroom for approximately two hours, the questionnaire was passed out to them. The answers were collected on the same day.
Of 246 mothers with three-year-old children in our Montessori class, 212 (86.2 percent) responded; 74 (34.9 percent) had boys; and 138 (65.1 percent) had girls. The answers to Question 1 are shown in Figure 2. Only 22.6 percent of mothers recognized the term Montessori education before giving birth to their child. Approximately half of mothers (47.2 percent), first heard the term when they started seeking a Kindergarten for their child. For Question 2, 86 mothers (40.6 percent) had read some books on Montessori education. However, 36 of these could not recall the name of any specific books. Only 12 mothers (5.7 percent) had read more than two books, and these mothers can be regarded as having a strong interest in Montessori education. After observing their children participating in the class, 172 mothers (81.1 percent) noticed one or more abilities in their children of which they were previously unaware. This impression was independent of mothers’ prior understanding of Montessori education, since there was no significant difference between mothers who had read some books and those who had not (Figure 3, p=0.52 by chi-square test).
The abilities they found during the class (answer to Question 4) are summarized in Table 1. Although the answers were not from pre-set, multiple-choice questions, they frequently pointed out core features of Montessori education. As for the area they hope to practice with their child at home, shown in Table 2, the majority (68.9 percent) mentioned practical life, which was considerable for mothers of three-year-old children. They might have felt that mathematics (4.7 percent) was too early or sensorial materials (5.2 percent) was too difficult at home, although they had more interest in geography (9.0 percent) and language (9.4 percennt).
Perceptions of Montessori in Japan
It should be striking for US Montessori teachers that only 22.6 percent of mothers had heard about Montessori before having their child, and only 5.7 percent of the mothers (those who had read multiple books) were considered to understand Montessori education well. Moreover, the rate reported here may be somewhat higher than that in the general population, because mothers who have enrolled their child in our Kindergarten, a private and Catholic-based one, may have a higher educational and economic background. However, these results are not surprising to Montessori educators in Japan, who usually find many difficulties in promoting this philosophy in our society.
Even with this low understanding of Montessori education, we are proud that mothers generally have favorable appraisals of Montessori education when they see it, regardless of their pre-existing level of understanding. This shows that Montessori education has the potential to become much more popular in our society if we act properly. We believe that the potential for accepting the Montessori philosophy in Japan is no less similar to the understanding of Montessori in other countries.
Montessori educators in Japan are responsible for determining why understanding of this educational philosophy remains limited, in spite of the efforts of leading Montessori educators in Japan. There are several barriers impeding the spread of this philosophy. Importantly, we should analyze the effect of Japanese traditional educational structures, such as same-age classrooms, which are defined by Japanese government curriculum guidelines. Under these guidelines, Elementary schools cannot organize mixed-age education, which is the centerpiece of Montessori education.
As for Kindergartens or pre-schools, Japanese government guidelines still advice to form the same-age classrooms, although attending these schools is not compulsory. In order to be approved by the Japanese government, many Kindergartens are reluctant to have mixed-age classrooms. It also affects the structures of Kindergarten and pre-schools, making mixed-age classes difficult in many schools. However, even with these government-recommended guidelines, which are not compulsory for Kindergartens or pre-schools, many Montessori educators organized Montessori schools with mixed-age classes throughout Japan, although they are not certified by any authorized Montessori organizations.
Several other factors also seems to exist. In Japan, all children are expected to meet the national curriculum standards.2 This may conflict with a major aim of Montessori education: to promote individual abilities. Another obstacle is the small number of Montessori teachers in Japan, a problem that likely results, in part, from the fact that many Japanese female workers leave their jobs after marriage. One must also consider the possibility that difficulty translating this educational philosophy into Japanese may also be a factor. However, this latter concern should not be overestimated, because Montessori education is carried out in many countries in many different languages.
Although we face several barriers, Montessori education is progressing steadily in this country. The high levels of parent satisfaction we see for our classes leads us to be optimistic about the future. The number of trained teachers is increasing, and we are sure that Japan will not be the exception to the “Borderless-Montessori-World.”
Acknowlegement:
Authors express special thanks to Sr. Christina Marie Trudeau for helpful comments and editorial assistance.
References:
1 Lillard, A. & Else-Quest, N. (2006). “The Early Years: Evaluating Montessori Education.” Science, 313, 1893-1894.
2 New York State Education Department (1992). “A Cross-cultural Comparison of the American and Japanese Education Systems.”
Montessori Leadership/December 2012/ pg 20
