Pupils of Montessori schools are more mature, creative and socially adept than their traditionally educated peers, US psychologists claimed this week in Science magazine.
In the UK, the Government is funding a joint project with the Montessori Schools Association to pioneer the transfer of teaching methods to a state primary. The aim is to raise standards at 350-pupil Gorton Mount primary in inner-city Manchester, which is in special measures, has had seven heads in six years, and where 71 per cent of children have free meals.