• Children are to be respected as different from adults and as individuals who differ from each other.
  
• Children possess unusual sensitivity and mental powers for absorbing and learning from their environment that are unlike those of adults, both in quantity and capacity.
  
• The most important years of growth are the first six years of life, when unconscious learning is gradually brought to conscious level.
  
• Children have a deep love and need for purposeful work. The child works, however, not as an adult for profit and completion of a job, but for the sake of the activity itself. It is this activity which accomplishes the most important goal for the child, the development of his or her mental, physical and psychological powers.

The average duration to complete the correspondence or online program is nine to twelve months. However there have been students in the past who completed the course in six months. CERDS has fixed that the students are required to study a minimum of six months from the date of enrollment to complete the course. The maximum duration permitted to do the course is eighteen months.

How much study time do I need to devote to this program?

If you can devote one-half hour a day, five days a week to our program, you can complete it comfortably within our outlined schedule.

What is the academic prerequisite required to enroll in this Center’s programs?

Our academic prerequisite is the same entrance standard as all colleges. You must be a senior secondary school graduate.

Do I need to complete the course within an allotted time frame?

Yes. You have up to 18 months to complete the course, although the standard length of time is 9 to 12 months.

All centers of higher learning have schedules that must be adhered to. Your personal tutor will consider extensions on an individual basis for students under extreme distress.

How many instructors will be evaluating my assignments?

You will be assigned one primary evaluator and one co-evaluator. Your personal tutor will be the primary evaluator. This provides consistency, a balanced perspective, and allows you to establish a personal rapport. Your personal tutor will committed to your success by offering guidance and encouragement.

How do I know if your graduates are satisfied with this Training Centre?

Our mandate is to provide professional, cost-effective Montessori training. If student satisfaction is a credible gauge of how well we are doing, we are delighted! Please see the student testimonials pages to know what our past students say about our programs.

We definitely feel that in order for a prospective teacher to be taken seriously, classroom experience is a necessary component to compliment our program. For students lacking Montessori classroom experience, we generally suggest that after they have completed approximately two thirds of our program, it is time to approach a local school(s) and offer their services as a volunteer teacher. This will provide them with valuable and credible practical experience as well as important contacts.

How many graduates successfully acquire employment?

Like graduates from all Montessori training centers, our graduates are very successful in securing employment. More than 50% of our students are already working in schools and are sponsored by the schools they work with.

Am I able to teach with just this diploma?

It depends on where you live. The answer is yes in some areas, and no in others. It could also depend on whether you want to start off working as the teacher responsible for the classroom, or as a classroom assistant. Private schools are almost always much more flexible with their teacher’s educational requirements.

Yes. Like all Montessori Diplomas, ours is valid internationally. In fact, our students come from over fifty countries world wide. Like a growing number of Montessori Training Centers, we are independent. Being independent provides us with the freedom to offer the highest quality program possible, without interference. To affiliate ourselves with any of the older, more orthodox organizations would require us to make program compromises, which we will not consider.

Who are we registered, affiliated or accredited with?

CERDS is an autonomous institution. We are registered with the Department of Technical Education, New Delhi, and associate members of the International Montessori Council, (IMC) and the Indian Montessori Association, (IMA).

What will happen if Training School affiliation becomes less important?

In our opinion, Montessorians will be more inclined to support and respect one another. Groups and individuals will be less concerned with labels and respect will be awarded to teachers and schools with quality programs.

It has not affected our graduates’ opportunities. “The current, Montessori teacher shortage is a national dilemma” (Times of India, May 2002). There is such a demand for Montessori teachers from so many schools embracing the attitude that they simply want to hire the most enthusiastic and committed teacher, regardless of his/her training source, the employment prospects are very positive. To be successful today, many school administrators are acknowledging that the source of a teacher's training is insignificant compared to the personal qualities a potential candidate brings to the position. Consequently, now more than ever, administrators hire candidates who present themselves as the most committed, knowledgeable and enthusiastic person for the position.

Most administrators are also aware that although parents expect the school's teachers to have Montessori training, most are not interested in its source. In fact, most parents have never heard of or are interested in AMI, AMS, MACTE, etc. Quite simply, parents today are careful. A teacher's diploma is far down their list of concerns. In short, they are only truly interested in the observable overall quality of the individual school or classroom. And it is universally agreed that this varies considerably from one Montessori environment to the next, regardless of a teacher’s training. Parents are however vitally concerned with five specific issues: