PRESCHOOLERS are already being prepped for the grueling and competitive academic slog to come. While most parents choose information-packed kindies, a very small number chooses the freer, more progressive Montessori approach. Zhang Qian reports.

Six-year-old David is literally getting the feel of his numbers. One on top of another, he stacks small wooden trays, each containing 100 pearls in 10 rows of 10. He's counting the trays as they pile up before him and keeping track with numerals. He's already up to 8,000.

He works with determination. Counting the pearls is the "job" he assigns to himself. A couple of children look on.

The classroom with more than 20 children of ages 3-6 is surprisingly quiet. There's no running around, grabbing or crying for toys, every child appears completely absorbed in his or her chosen task - keeping track of pearls and number placement, matching objects of the same shape or fitting wooden weights into slots the same size.

A teacher strolls around quietly, watching every child but not intervening, ready to offer help whenever they ask for it.

This is an ordinary scene in classrooms at public Weihai Road Kindergarten in Jing'an District, which has been offering Montessori education for around 10 years. Though the Montessori method and Montessori-like approaches are gradually catching on, they are still quite rare in Shanghai, as in the rest of China.

"Here, children are the teacher and their own boss. They assign work for themselves and learn by themselves," says Fu Fang, president of Weihai Road Kindergarten who has been working in children's education for more than 20 years. "The teacher works more like a butler who offers help and support when the children need it."

Montessori education is about as different as it gets from traditional Chinese classroom education, which is strict and highly structured, test-oriented and competitive and in which the teacher is the figure of authority passing on information, dispensing approval and disapproval.

To prepare children for the notoriously trying academic years ahead, many urban parents send their children to preschools and to extra classes where they learn basic numbers and characters. This is to ensure they won't be left behind in first grade when all that basic knowledge is assumed.

Yet some parents are opting for progressive Montessori preschool and kindergarten learning that encourages children's exploration, self-propelled learning and independence.

This, they hope, will help their children more in the long run and give them good study habits. Some catching up will be necessary, but that's not a big problem in their eyes.

Montessori education, developed by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori in the 1900s, is now practiced in an estimated 20,000 schools worldwide, involving children from birth (almost) to 18 years. It emphasizes independence, freedom within limits and respect for a child's natural psychological development, as well as technological advancements, such as use of computers.

Though a range of practices and schools use the name "Montessori," not all are certified. The two certification authorities - Association Montessori International (AMI) and the American Montessori Society (AMS) - insist that five elements are essential.

They are: mixed age classrooms with children aged 3-6 years as the most common; student choice of activity from a prescribed range of options; uninterrupted blocks of work time, a "constructivism" model in which students learn concepts from working with materials; rather than by direct instruction (as counting trays of pearls); and specialized educational materials developed by Montessori and her collaborators.

Though Montessori education became very popular in the West as early as the 1960s and spread to China in the early 1990s, it was not until the reform and opening-up period of the late 1970s that Chinese educators got a closer look at Montessori and gave it a try.

The first Montessori education research program was launched in Beijing in 1994, while the first two Montessori classes in Shanghai were opened in public Weihai Road Kindergarten and public Nanyang Experimentation Kindergarten in Jing'an District in 2001.

At that time, most of the Montessori courses were introduced from Taiwan, according to Fu. Teachers were selected for training and then returned to teach in kindergartens.

Today there are 11 Montessori classes in Weihai Road Kindergarten and 15 in Nanyang Experimental Kindergarten; there are a number of Montessori classes in other public kindergartens as well. Private kindergartens with Montessori education are also gradually appearing in Shanghai. Most have international classes with expat students.

There are also legally operating, progressive schools that claim to use Montessori methods, but lack Montessori certification.

Tuition at Weihai Road Kindergarten is around 800 yuan (US$127) per month. Tuition at private Montessori kindergartens is 2,000-3,000 yuan a month.

There are no Montessori primary or middle schools.

Compared with the popular Montessori teaching tools purchased by many parents today, the Montessori's education concept is more valuable, in Fu's view.

"Though it is more than 100 years old, Montessori education is practical and suitable for children today," says Fu. "The core ideas were fresh to teachers in China but as we have discovered in 10 years' practice, they proved to be important for children's development in early education."

These core ideas include respect for children's ability to direct their own learning, the teachers' role as helper rather than commander, and the mixed-age classes in which older children help younger children.

In this system, children are expected to make their own plans, focus on their chosen task, learn through practice, observe and learn from older children and cooperate with children of the same age.

According to Fu, most graduates are more independent, capable in planning for themselves, managing tasks and time, concentration and having a sense of responsibility.

The first time Jane Wu saw her son David in class, the 36-year-old human resources professional wondered whether that boy absorbed in counting pearls could be the same one who was so restless at home.

"He is so different while doing his task and everybody else is quietly doing theirs," says Wu, who sent her son to the school simply because of the convenient location near their home. Now she is confident she made the right choice.

"Of course, there were parents who questioned the fact that there is less hard information passed on here," Fu says, "but acquiring good learning habits early means it's never too late or too difficult to learn new knowledge."

So she isn't worried that David will have trouble getting up to speed when he attends regular public primary school. In fact, because of state curriculum requirements, students in Montessori education also get some standard learning.

At first many students were enrolled in Montessori schools because of convenient location but later more students applied for admission on the recommendation of Montessori parents and children, according to Wang Jian, president of private Montessori Weilan Kindergarten established in 2005 with eight classes. It now has 15 classes.

However, Montessori is still very non-mainstream in Shanghai, according to Zhu Jiaxiong, professor of pre-school education in the Special Education Department of East China Normal University. Most are only found in limited pubic kindergartens in Jing'an District or private kindergartens in wealthy communities. Then there are various Montessori-type kindergartens without professional certification.

The municipal government's insistence on its own curriculum is one reason for the slow development of Montessori education, Zhu says. After all, kindergartens have to include the official schedule while applying and developing their own progressive learning methods.

Fu from Weihai Road Kindergarten also says that strict Montessori education is not suitable for public preschool in Shanghai. Over the years, adjustments were made to fit the government's curriculum requirements, while practicing the Montessori method. The two-hour "job" activity of Montessori has been shortened into half an hour. The school has added a half hour of group education, two hours of outdoor activity, an hour of games and 45 minutes of individual activity.

Private kindergartens are relatively freer to arrange their own teaching schedule, according to Wang from Montessori Weilan Kindergarten.

"We don't give knowledge classes, but just Montessori courses where children learn by themselves," Wang says. "Since we don't interact much with the official education system, we won't be influenced much."

Unlike regular school education involving lots of knowledge acquisition, pre-school education only has three major tasks - developing good behavior and habits, gasping easy math and language, according to Professor Zhu.

"Though there are a lot of so-called 'early education institutes' in the market, most of them messed it up. Montessori education has some advantages," Zhu says. "It is very effective in instilling good behavior and study habits and good in learning rough math concepts. But it has disadvantages, which lie in language learning. That can be remedied with some additional courses."

Though some parents recognize the advantages of Montessori, they still worry about the gap between preschool and regular school education.

"Montessori is said to be good for intellectual development, but I am worried my boy may get confused when entering primary school that has a completely different education method," says Zhu Zian, a 31-year-old bank employee. "After all, there are no Montessori primary or middle schools here."

Wu, whose pearl-counting son David is ready to graduate form kindergarten, is also considering extra courses for him before he enters primary school.

"I want him to enjoy his own learning as much as he can, but he always has to get back to the basic system," says the mother.

Parents speak out: Sure, we like the idea but ...

Jenny Xia, 30 (3-year-old son)

I believe that most parents would agree with Montessori's education concepts such as encouraging personality and potential. I will vote for that if they can really practice it in details."

Windy Lu, 29 (2-year-old son)

I love my child, and I would like to have him grow happily and freely. I am for Montessori, but it is rather difficult to find and get enrolled in a good one in Shanghai."

Daisy Ni, 28 (2-year-old son)

I know Montessori education and I appreciate their ideas of respect for kids and learning through games. But there are more things to be considered while choosing a kindergarten, such as location and safety problems. After all, there are a lot of other kindergartens with child-centered policies. I would consider but not necessarily choose Montessori."

Karl Cai, 30 (3-year-old daughter)

We took our daughter to a Montessori class once before deciding on a kindergarten. I don't think it is suitable for every kid. Most children there are gentle and quiet. My girl is just too much the opposite. I don't think she can find her place there."

Lancy Wu, 28 (20-month-old daughter)

It is too expensive. Most of them (private) charge more than 2,000 yuan. In addition, my parents are looking after my child at home. The totally different education approaches of the older generation and modern kindergarten may just confuse my boy."