How did it all begin?
Dr Maria Montessori, the first woman to
graduate from the University of Tome Medical School, became
interested in education as a doctor treating mentally handicapped
children. After returning to the university for further study,
she began her work with non – handicapped children
in 1904.
In her research, Dr. Montessori noted the specific characteristics
associated with the child’s interests and abilities
at each plane of development. She argued that a school carefully
designed to meet the needs and interests of the child would
work more effectively because it would not fight human nature.
Montessori taught teachers how to “follow the child”
through careful observation, allowing each child to reveal
his/her strengths, weaknesses, interests and anxieties; and
strategies that work best to facilitate the development of
the child’s human potential.
This focus on the “whole child”
led Dr. Montessori to develop a very different sort of school
from the traditional adult – centred classroom. To emphasise
this difference, she named her first school the “Casa
dei Bambini” (Children’s House).
There is something profound in her choice
of words, for the Montessori classroom is not the domain of
the adults in charge, but rather it is a carefully prepared
environment designed to facilitate
the development of the children’s independence and sense
of personal empowerment.
Is it for all children?
The Montessori system has been used successfully
with children aged from 2 ½ years from all socio –
economic, emotional, mental and physical levels.
Montessori schools believe very strongly
that intelligence is not fixed at birth, nor is the human
potential anywhere near as limited as it sometimes seems in
traditional education. We know that each child is a full and
complete individual in his/her own right. Even when children
are very small, they deserve to be treated with the full and
sincere respect that we would extend to their parents. Respect
breeds respect, and creates an atmosphere within which learning
is tremendously facilitated.
Success at school is directly tied to
the degree to which children believe that they are capable
and independent human beings.
If they knew the words, even very young
children would ask: “Help me learn to do it for myself!”
The Montessori system allows children
to develop a meaningful degree of independence and self-discipline,
which sets a pattern for a lifetime of good work habits and
a sense of responsibility. Children learn to take pride in
doing things for themselves carefully and well.
Montessori schools treat each child as a unique individual.
Children learn at their own pace, and learn in ways that work
best for them to discover and develop their own talents and
possibilities. The goal is flexible and creative.
Learning the right answers may get a child
through school, learning how to become a life-long, independent
learner will take her anywhere! Montessori teaches children
to think, not simply to memorise, regurgitate, and forget.
What is it?
It is a system of education in both a philosophy
of child growth and a rationale for guiding such growth. It
is based on the child’s developmental needs for freedom
within limits and a carefully prepared environment that guarantees
exposure to materials and experience through which to develop
intelligence as well as physical and psychological abilities.
It is designed to take full advantage of the self-motivation
and unique ability of young children to develop their own
capabilities. Children need adults to expose them to the possibilities
of their lives, but the children themselves must direct their
responses to those possibilities.
Key principles of Montessori education are:
1. Children are to be respected and treated as individuals.
2. Children possess unusual sensitivity and mental ability
to absorb and learn from their environment, unlike adults,
both in quality and capacity.
3. The most important years of growth are the first six years
of life, when unconscious learning is gradually brought to
a conscious level.
4. Children have a deep love and need for purposeful work
(play). The child works, however, not as an adult for profit
and completion of a task, but for the sake of the activity
itself.
Montessori identified ‘the
universal characteristics of childhood’ from her observations
of children of different cultures at various stages in their
development. These characteristics can be summed up as follows:
· All children have ‘absorbent’ minds.
· All children pass through ‘sensitive periods’.
· All children want to learn.
· All children learn through play (work).
· All children want to be independent.
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