Claire Healy started training as a Montessori teacher when her children were small. She studied by correspondence course over five years and this convinced her that flexible learning is ideal for those with a family and trying to build a career at the same time.
Healy opened her own Montessori school in Cork and also began lecturing at St Nicholas Montessori college in Dublin. A job opportunity subsequently presented itself in Norway and Healy spent three years there training teachers while also studying for a postgraduate qualification in educational management with the Open University.
On returning to Ireland, she was recruited to coordinate a project on early childhood care and education. However, she kept her training links in Scandinavia and began using the Internet to keep in contact with her students. This worked out very well and Healy began developing a fully fledged Internet-based Montessori training course which went live in 1999 with a pilot of 23 students in Norway.
"We now have 42 students studying with us, but only one Irish person and we'd like to improve on that," Healy says. "We will be recruiting Irish students in November and we will have two intakes a year. The course is split between theory and practice and students can take things at their own pace. If someone wants to complete the course with no breaks, it would take them 18 months."
At present, the course does not have independent accreditation. However, Healy is working on achieving this. "Part of the problem is that there is no overall Montessori body, so qualifications tend to be recognised or not recognised with tremendous variation, but our qualifications are acceptable in many places," she says. "We have extended the course content to include optional childcare and management training modules. "
On October 13th, Healy's company, Waterpark Training, is running an information and training day on using Montessori in childcare. The venue is the Forte Post House hotel at Dublin airport, the cost is £20 and all are welcome. To book, telephone (021) 429 5290. The web address for Waterpark's Montessori training information is www.montessorionthenet.com
