Montessori vs Reggio Emilia: how to choose a preschool approach in Singapore

Montessori vs Reggio Emilia is a choice about how your child spends the preschool day. In a Montessori room, your child picks hands-on materials from open shelves and works at their own pace. In a Reggio Emilia room, children work through a question together as a project, and teachers document how they think. ECDA lists both as learning approaches you can choose from, so the real check is how each centre runs its rooms.

How to choose between Montessori and Reggio Emilia, step by step

1. Watch your child play for a week. A child who repeats one task until it's right leans Montessori, and one who chases an idea with friends leans Reggio.
2. Shortlist centres near home or a grandparent's flat, as ECDA suggests. ECDA's Preschool Search on the LifeSG app finds them, and our preschool directory shows fees and levels by town.
3. Visit one centre of each kind, and ask to watch a class at work.
4. Look for the signs of each approach in the room. The table below lists them, as AMI and Reggio Children describe them.
5. Ask both centres the same questions. ECDA suggests asking how a preschool assesses learning, such as through "learning stories, portfolios, observations", so add who trained the teachers and how long a work period or project runs.
6. Check the ECDA licence on display. ECDA says licences last 6, 12, 24 or 36 months, depending on how well a centre meets its rules, and the LifeSG app shows the tenure.
7. Check for SPARK, ECDA's quality accreditation, which has two levels: Certification and Commendation.
8. Ask how the K2 year gets children ready for Primary 1. ECDA's SPARK guide says readiness means building confidence, independence, social skills and positive learning habits.
9. Compare fees and hours last. Our Montessori preschool guide has fee ranges from ECDA data, and our guide to full-day vs half-day childcare covers hours.

Montessori vs Reggio Emilia side by side

Each column draws on the approach's own body: the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) for Montessori, and Reggio Children and the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA) for Reggio Emilia. Use the last row as your checklist on a visit.

How a Montessori day works

AMI describes the 3 to 6 class as a mixed-age room where children "freely choose their own activities" and work at their own pace. The materials sit in four areas, starting with practical life and moving on to sensorial work, language and maths. AMI's glossary says Montessori "advocates a three-hour uninterrupted work period", so your child has time to repeat a task until they're satisfied.

In AMI's words, the adult "does not teach in the traditional sense". The guide gives a short lesson on a material, then leaves your child free to explore it. Each activity gives your child a way to check their own progress, which AMI calls control of error.

Ask which body trained the teachers. AMI says its diploma is "identical throughout the world" for each age level, and that other Montessori qualifications can't be upgraded to an AMI one. Our Montessori preschool guide covers fees and the questions to ask a Montessori centre.

How a Reggio Emilia day works

Reggio Children calls the approach an educational philosophy. It starts from the image of a child with "strong potentialities for development" and rights, who grows in relations with others and learns through the hundred languages, which NAREA calls "a metaphor for the extraordinary potentials of children". Reggio Children says a centre's job is to value "all verbal and non-verbal languages with equal dignity", so drawing and building count as much as talk.

There's no fixed programme. Reggio Children says the work is designed as it goes, "not by means of applying pre-defined programmes", and the room "takes shape in relation to the projects". Look for an atelier too: the studio space Reggio Children names as one of the approach's foundations.

On a visit, look for documentation. Teachers record children's words and work to make their thinking visible, and Reggio Children calls documentation "an integral part" of the approach. NAREA lists "intense co-participation of families" among its traits, so expect to be invited to take part.

Reggio Children says "Reggio Emilia Approach" is a registered trademark, and asks anyone unsure about a group using its name to check with its International Office. So ask each centre what "Reggio-inspired" means in its rooms, and what training its teachers have had in the approach.

Where play-based learning and MOE Kindergarten fit

If you're weighing up play-based centres too, start with MOE's framework. MOE says its Nurturing Early Learners (NEL) framework "shapes the development of preschool curriculum for children aged four to six", and its MOE Kindergarten teachers share NEL resources with preschools across Singapore.

MOE Kindergartens focus on "learning through purposeful play and quality interactions", and MOE says children "learn best through active learning and purposeful play". Each term at an MOE Kindergarten ends with a Weeks of Wonder project, where children explore a topic they're curious about, which is close to Reggio's project work. Montessori sees play differently: AMI's glossary says Maria Montessori preferred to call it "the work of childhood".

Our MOE Kindergarten guide covers fees and registration, and free play vs structured play explains the play side at home.

What ECDA checks, whichever approach you pick

ECDA says any paid service giving regular care or education to 5 or more children under 7 needs an ECDA licence. When it issues or renews one, ECDA assesses 5 areas, and one of them, school experience, covers things like a "developmentally appropriate programme plan". None of the five names a teaching approach, so the licence tells you a centre meets the rules, and your visit tells you how Montessori or Reggio its rooms are.

ECDA adds that a longer licence "is not the only thing to consider", and suggests you visit and speak with the principal. For the full quality checks, from SPARK to teacher-child ratios, see our guide to the best preschools in Singapore and the childcare centre visit checklist.

Who to contact

• A question about a centre's licence, or a worry about care at a preschool: call ECDA's hotline on 1800-111-2222 and say "ECDA" when the virtual assistant asks. ECDA lists its hours as 0830 to 1800 on Mondays to Fridays and 0830 to 1300 on Saturdays, or you can write in through its contact page.
• Checking a Montessori teacher's AMI diploma: AMI can verify one on request, with the teacher's consent, so ask the centre to arrange it.
• Checking a Reggio claim: Reggio Children invites anyone to contact its International Office to verify initiatives that use its name.
• If you think your child needs extra support to learn: read ECDA's parents' guide on early intervention, talk to your child's doctor, and see our guide to the early intervention programme.
• Questions about Primary 1 places: our P1 registration guide sets out the phases and the ballot.

Frequently asked questions

Montessori vs Reggio Emilia: what's the main difference?

Montessori gives your child designed materials and a long work period to use them, mostly alone and at their own pace, as AMI describes it. Reggio Emilia builds the day around projects planned with the children, with teachers documenting their thinking, as Reggio Children describes it. Both put your child's own interests at the centre.

Is there a Reggio Emilia preschool in Singapore?

Reggio Children says the approach "develops and renews each day" in the city-run centres of Reggio Emilia, Italy, and ECDA lists Reggio Emilia among the learning approaches you can choose from in Singapore. Find centres near you in ECDA's Preschool Search or our preschool directory, then ask each one how it uses the approach and how its teachers trained in it.

Montessori or Reggio, which is better?

ECDA lists both as types of quality early childhood curriculum and doesn't pick between them. Its advice is to choose a preschool whose philosophy matches your own beliefs and expectations. Watch which room your child settles into on a visit, then check the licence and SPARK status.

Montessori vs Reggio vs play-based: how do they compare?

Montessori centres on individual work with designed materials, and Reggio on group projects that teachers document. Play-based learning uses play as the main way in, and MOE Kindergartens focus on "learning through purposeful play and quality interactions" under MOE's NEL framework for ages 4 to 6.

Will a Montessori or Reggio preschool get my child ready for Primary 1?

ECDA's SPARK guide says getting ready for Primary 1 means building "confidence, independence, social skills and positive learning habits". Ask how the centre runs K2, and how it keeps you updated that year. Our Primary 1 preparation checklist covers the year before.

How much do Montessori and Reggio preschools cost?

Each centre sets its own fees, and ECDA says fee and enrolment policies are "managed directly by preschools". Our Montessori preschool guide has fee ranges from ECDA data. To see what you'd pay after help, try the childcare subsidy calculator and the preschool fee cap calculator.