CoRE programme: Montessori in public pre-primary schools in Tanzania

The Community-Rooted Education programme – known in short as the CoRE programme – is the first initiative to systematically introduce the principles of Montessori education into public pre-primary schools in Tanzania. The target group is pre-primary teachers who have so far had little access to specialised training in early childhood education.

At the heart of the programme is a decentralised and practice-oriented approach to continuing professional development. Local trainers – known as CoRE Facilitators – train government-employed teachers directly in their work environment and support them over an extended period in their classrooms. This ongoing on-site support not only improves the implementation of the content, but also strengthens the connection to the local reality.

Montessori education has been known in Tanzania’s early childhood sector for decades, but almost exclusively in privately run nursery schools for children aged 2 to 5. In the public education system, however, Montessori has so far had very little presence. Public pre-primary schools (for children aged 5 to 7) typically follow a traditional approach to teaching, heavily focused on rote learning, discipline and hierarchical structures, with little room for individual learning or the child’s free development.

Through the CoRE programme, teachers in public pre-primary schools are now being trained on-site in the core principles of Montessori education. Together with the communities and facilitators, they create the key learning materials themselves, tailored to local contexts and available resources.

By 2030, 5,000 of the country’s 19,400 public pre-primary teachers are expected to have completed CoRE training, representing around 25 percent of the entire teaching workforce and thus forming a critical mass. Once around a quarter of public pre-primary teachers have received Montessori-inspired training, this pedagogical approach will no longer be marginal. It will become a reality within the public education system. These trained teachers will serve as reference points for their colleagues, key contacts for school leadership, and credible voices in dialogue with education authorities. This will result in a strong network of multipliers and change-makers who help embed new ways of teaching and learning into everyday practice. Change is not imposed from outside but grows from within the system.