3–6 years

School choice

Thirteen educational philosophies, scored on thirteen axes of what you want and what your family can actually reach. Fees and distance are axes here rather than footnotes, because for most families they decide the question before any philosophy does.

Start

9–14 questions, scored on your device. Saving is optional and comes afterwards.

approaches: 13
axes: 13
questions: 9–14

The approaches

Every one of these works for the families it suits

The shapes are drawn from each approach’s own positions, so two that look alike are alike — they are not illustrations, and nothing here is styled to flatter one camp over another.

Montessori

A prepared room, mixed ages, long uninterrupted work, and the child chooses within it.

Waldorf / Steiner

Late formal academics, strong rhythm, art in everything, no screens.

Reggio Emilia

The curriculum comes from what the children became interested in.

IB Primary Years

Inquiry, but inside a framework — and pointed at an international future.

Classical

A fixed canon, taught in sequence, memorised before it is analysed.

Democratic / Sudbury

No curriculum, no classes unless asked for, and children vote on the rules.

Mainstream state

The local school, with everyone else who lives near you.

Academically selective

High expectations, hard entry, and a clear destination.

Faith-based

A school that shares, and teaches, your family's beliefs.

Forest school

Outdoors in all weather, led by what the child does there.

Home education

You teach them, with a plan.

Unschooling

No curriculum at all. Learning follows what they are actually doing.

Bilingual / international

Two languages, a mixed nationality cohort, and a portable education.

The axes

What the instrument measures

None of these has a correct end, and the last group is about what your week allows rather than about what you would prefer.

The shape of learning

L1Who directs the day: How much of a school day is decided in advance by someone other than the child.; the child chooses what to do ↔ timetabled, and directed by adults
L2When formal academics start: How soon reading, writing and number become the explicit business of the day.; when the child is ready, and late is fine ↔ early, and ambitiously
L3Measuring it: Whether a child is told, in a formal and comparable way, how they are doing.; no grades, no tests ↔ graded and tested regularly
L4Where the curriculum comes from: Whether what gets taught is decided by what this group of children became interested in, or before they arrived.; it emerges from the children ↔ a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance
L5What a teacher is: Whether the adult at the front is mainly transmitting something or mainly making room.; a guide who steps back ↔ an authority who instructs

The environment

E1Mixed ages: Whether a child spends the day with children of their own age or across a span of them.; classes of the same age ↔ mixed-age groups
E2Outdoors and the body: How much of the learning is meant to happen with the whole body, outside, in weather.; learning happens at a table ↔ outdoors and hands-on is the point
E3Technology at school: Whether screens and devices are part of how a young child is taught.; kept out until late ↔ built in from the start

Values and community

V1A view of the world: Whether a school is expected to hold and transmit a position about what matters, or to leave that to families.; school should stay neutral ↔ school should teach a view of the world
V2Who else is there: Which you would choose if you genuinely could not have both.; a broad, mixed intake matters most ↔ a community that shares our values matters most
V3What it is for: Whether these years are the thing itself or the preparation for a later thing.; childhood is the point ↔ it should set up university and a career

What your family can do

C1What the family can put inconstraint: How much parent time, teaching and participation your household actually has to give — which is a fact about your work and your help, not about your commitment.; school has to run without the parents ↔ being in it, daily
C2Money and distanceconstraint: The two constraints that decide this question for most families before any philosophy does.; free and local, or it is not an option ↔ we can pay, and we can travel

Compared, two at a time

Where two approaches differ

What each asks, and where the difference shows up on a Tuesday. Generated from the same sourced grid the questionnaire scores against.