•  
  MSA
   
•  
  Accreditation
   
  • Benefits of accreditation
  • How to prepare for accreditation
  • Accreditation process
  • Criteria
  • Documents & Guidance
  • Assessors
  • MEAB News
  • Who's who
  • Accreditation reports
  • Recruitment
  • Press Release
•  
  Find a School
   
•  
  Primary Montessori
   

The Accreditation process how it works

Having decided on the benefits of accreditation and being realistic about your readiness for involvement in the accreditation process, you are now ready to proceed. All the documents mentioned below are available through the Documents and Guidance section of this website. Be prepared to make most of your communications with MEAB electronically.

Click here to download a case study of a Montessori setting and an article by Barbara Isaacs entitled, What happens during the accreditation process?'

You will need to do the following:

1. Complete an expression of interest form or email Philip Davies at admin@meab.co.uk. Indicate on this form when you might like to be accredited

2. Start working with your team on revisiting your Montessori values and practice

3. Start working on the self evaluation form, S1

4. Use the document checklist form S2 which will help you ensure that you have all the written evidence for the statements made in form S1

5. Possibly organise to attend the MCI Saturday seminar Preparing for MEAB Accreditation.

6. You will receive notification from the MEAB office about timing of your proposed accreditation and the administrator will remind you about submission of your documents. It will be at this stage that you will need to tell the MEAB office about dates which are not suitable for the MEAB visit such as your annual picnic or open house for parents.

7. The administrator will liaise with MEAB Assessors to set a date for your accreditation visit. He will liaise with you to agree the date of the visit.

8. The assessor will contact you prior to the visit to introduce him/herself and to get travel directions or finalise the details of the visit. It is not your responsibility to organise accommodation for the assessor, should it be needed

9. The assessor will spend a day in your setting; in particularly large settings you may have two assessors. They will observe, talk to children, parents, owner, manager and staff. They will also look at your documents. They are likely to use their computer during the visit. At the end of the visit they will give you feedback. You will decide who will sit in on the feedback. They will make verbal recommendations to you during this feedback. The day following the visit the assessor will prepare a written report.

This report should reach the MEAB office within three to five working days and will be read several times before it is presented to the Report Monitoring Group (RMG). They scrutinise all reports for consistency of content and presentation. If agreed by the RMG the report will then be sent to you for your final comment on the factual accuracy of the report.

The RMG may also recommend a re-visit to your setting, to ensure parity in recommendations for all settings. The arrangement for the revisit will be made by the Senior Accreditation Officer and a member of the RMG and an assessor will organise your second visit.

You can receive the following recommendations for accreditation:

• The school provides an education in accordance with the principles of the Montessori approach and environment and merits accreditation by the Montessori Schools Association
• The school provides an education which broadly follows the principles of the Montessori approach and environment. This merits accreditation by the Montessori Schools Association, but further development is needed in the following areas: specific recommendations are given
• The school does not yet provide an education which follows the principles of Montessori education to merit accreditation by the Montessori Schools Association. Areas for development are: reasons are given.

It will take between six to eight weeks for you to receive the report for your comment. This will be private and confidential and will not be ready for circulation to your parents because it will require validation by the Montessori Evaluation and Accreditation Board who meet two or three times each year. You will be notified of the date of this meeting when you receive your report for final checking.

10.  Once the accreditation has been validated by MEAB you will receive an electronic copy and paper copy of your report and the report will be included on the website and linked to the schools entry on the MSA database.

11. You and your team will be invited to the MEAB awards to receive your accreditation plaque. This event will be linked with the MCI Graduation ceremony each December.  If you are unable to attend the MEAB awards, your plaque will be sent to you. You could also request to receive your plaque at your regional MSA meeting.

1. The MEAB accreditation is valid for three years and you will be contacted three months prior to the accreditation expiring to invite you to be re-accredited.
2. Receiving accreditation recommendations carries an expectation that settings continue to develop and work on the issues highlighted in the accreditation report. Settings will be expected to prepare a plan for implementation of the recommendations and provide the MEAB office with regular updates on the progress of the improvements to their practice.

Click here to download a case study of a Montessori setting and  article by Barbara Isaacs which explains what to expect after the accreditation process.