Abstract
This paper reports on a qualitative research project carried out as to why parents
choose to send their children to private Montessori schools in Dublin. It includes five
interviews that were recorded using a dictaphone. The women who were interviewed
had sent either all their children to registered Irish Montessori Education Board
(I.M.E.B.) schools in South County Dublin, or only some of their children. Some of
the women also had experience of not sending one of their children to an I.M.E.B.
school. These interviews were analysed and certain themes were found to be
recurring in them all such as (1) the advantages of sending a child to a Montessori
school, (2) the reasons for choosing certain Montessori schools and (3) the parents’
knowledge of Montessori. The main results which were found to be true from this
research is that these women had no real idea of the Montessori Method of education
and that they send their children to a Montessori school primarily as it is now seen as
the norm. All ethical criteria were adhered to.
