is montessori catholic or religious at all?

[newmum35]

have some questions about this type of schooling if anyone can help...

is a montessori school a catholic one? (or other religion?)

Do they teach religion there or any type of religious related values? (there is one in my area that shows a picture of a nun teaching a child on the website and outlines some of the lessons, which are religious in nature but not necessarily catholic but yet another school in my area gives no indication of relgion at all ontheir site but there arent many pics there or any outline of whats taught either so its possible they have some religion)

so Im a bit confused here. Was the original inventor of the method catholic or doesn't that have anything to do with the school?

[Thalia]

I may be totally wrong about this, but I think some Montessori schools cater to a particular religious groups. I remember giving swim lessons to a Sikh Montessori School in Arizona in the '90s, and I think recently I saw a Montessori school that appeared to have mostly Orthodox Jewish students. I don't think there is anything inherently religious about Montessori, though.

[oceanbaby]

I toured and applied to the one near our house, and there wasn't anything religious about it that I noticed.

[Thalia the Muse]

The Montessori education method itself is not religious at all. However, some individual schools that use it are Catholic or Jewish or Methodist or what-have-you, so they're Catholic AND Montessori. The school itself should be very upfront about whether it has a religious affiliation.

[lach]

Montessori itself is not religious. It is, however, not trademarked so anyone could call themselves a Montessori school. There's nothing to stop a Catholic parish, or any other religion, from setting up a religious Montessori school.

How religious the school is depends on a lot of things. It may not be very religious at all: many Catholic schools cater to non-Catholic families. I went to a Jewish preschool, despite not being Jewish. It was just very close to my house and a very nice little school.

[Lillianna]

I agree with pp, there is a wide variety of practices that can be incorporated with the Montessori approach.
Dr. Montessori herself was Catholic but specifically created a non-sectarian educational model. She did write a book titled "The Child in the Church" about her ideas for teaching the child religion and this is the basis for the "Catechesis of the Good Shepard" program that some church schools use. You might hear it referred to as "the Atrium".
There are many Montessori schools with no religious affiliation at all, though.