All That Is Glitter Is Not Gold.The good thingsThe Montessori Academy is commendable for upholding essential policies and ensures high quality standards as outlined by the Department of Education.
The challengesWhile I appreciate the Montessori Academy's dedication to excellence, I find the company expectations to be quite demanding. In the daily three-hour Montessori cycle, my responsibilities involve presenting materials to children, meticulously documenting the work of each child (a minimum of three x ? children), capturing photos (again, 3 x ?), and maintaining the tidiness of both shelves and the room every few minutes. This routine is consistently upheld throughout the entire three-hour duration. In a two-staff classroom with (?) 3-4 year-old children; usually at full capacity however there are times where we are over the ratio, the demanding nature of these tasks becomes particularly evident. Moreover, the centre's management places a high emphasis on maintaining a consistently clean and neat environment. As kindergarten teachers, we allocate approximately 50% of our daily work to cleaning duties. Despite this, we are also tasked with only two hours per week to planning, with the added expectation of crafting a meticulous learning story for each child every month, which is mandatory. Ultimately, this dynamic places a strain on the provision of quality education and care for the children, as the significant time and effort invested in other unnecessary duties/tasks have detracted educators from their true purpose.