Parents' reasons in the Hunter area for choosing a Montessori school, Steiner school or home schooling for the early schooling of their children

This is a report of a small study concerned with parental choice of non-mainstream schooling. The study focussed on mothers in Newcastle, whose children, under eight years of age, are registered as Home schoolers, or enrolled either in a Montessori or a Rudolf Steiner pre-school. The intention was to investigate in an essentially qualitative way, parents reasons' for choosing one of these types of private schooling for the early schooling of their children. Results show that three types of schooling are partly chosen because of the particular alternative educational approaches they present: the Montessori method because it encourages individual learning in an harmonic environment, the Steiner school because of the integration of arts and nature, and Home schooling because of its 'family orientation'. There are characteristics that are shared by all samples: most participants indicated an interest in a strongly child-centred and holistic approach, values that differ from the average and mothers' own school experiences showed as further relevant factors. The personal construct grids demonstrated the connection of early authority figures and the meaning given to education and schooling. While generalisations have to consider the small sample and the scarcity of literature, the study nevertheless provided a broad picture of the process of choosing a type of private schooling in regard to individual choices, which raised questions of schooling and education relevant to everyone concerned with education.