The IMEB represents Montessori training colleges, Woodfield Nursery & Montessori School in Dun Laoghaire, and the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) in Dundrum, Dublin. Ms Bernadette Burns, principal at Woodfield, says that the child-centred Montessori method and philosophy is geared to three to 12-year-olds. Although teachers train for three years to gain a diploma, or four years for a BA, starting pay is about £7,000 or £8,000, she says. She points out that traditionally people did not see the need to spend money on their infant children. "Parents are beginning to understand that they must pay for a good school," she says.

But many graduates are attracted abroad to better pay rates and where "they are highly thought of and highly sought after".