Montessori schools

Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was the first woman in Italy to qualify as a physician. The ethos behind Montessori schools originated from Maria's research within the slums of Rome, where she provided a childcare system for children who were thought to be uneducable. She questioned what normal education was and one key finding from her research indicated that children in the slums were not uneducable, but simply needed to engage with their learning (Isaacs, 2012).

Montessori schools were established during an era where little psychological research had been carried out on the area of child development. Her findings from her research made a massive movement from what once was an education system modelled around the Victorian family, towards a child centred learning education system. This introduced the idea of each child being unique and needing individual teaching. During the 1920s, Maria's research affected pedagogy, especially in the layout of early years classrooms (Wood, 2011).

The areas of learning which are covered in Montessori schools include: practical life and daily routines; refinement of the senses; communication, language and literacy; mathematics and creativity. These learning areas are similar to the principles of the foundation phase in Wales; this is because the ethos of the Foundation Phase was inspired from the Montessori schools.

Maria was first to recognise that a child's natural instinct is to learn through play. Her research demonstrated that children were keen to copy adults; Montessori schools aimed to mirror the home and school environmental contexts of children, as children transfer what they learn at home to school and vice versa.

In Montessori schools, children play and learn with what interests them; the toys which they play with are simple and mainly geometric, aiming to enhance motor skills (O'Donnell, 2013).

The role of the teacher in a Montessori school is interesting as he or she is to act as a directress as opposed to controlling learning. Wood (2011) suggests that children should be provided the opportunity to take the lead in their own learning, as they are self motivated. Teachers do not sit at the front of the class but move to different areas where support is needed. In Montessori schools, respect is paramount; teachers and children respect each other. When children arrive at school in the morning, the teacher stands next to the school gates and shakes the hand of each child and receives a greeting (Feez, 2010).

There are currently 7,000 Montessori schools worldwide, 4,000 in the US alone; these figures are continuing to grow as Montessori schools are becoming more popular.

To conclude, the concept of child centred learning is captivating; this is the inspiration behind my blog post. I especially admire the element of freedom, which children are entitled to in Montessori schools and feel that this is the key behind their success. This is my favourite context of learning as Maria Montessori was first to acknowledge the importance of play based learning.

References

Feez, S. (2010) Montessori and Early Childhood. London: Sage.

Isaacs, B. (2012) Understanding the Montessori Apporach. London: Routledge.

O'Donnell, M. (2013) Maria Montessori: A Critical Introduction to Key Themes and Debates. London: Bloomsbury.

Wood, K. (2011) Education: The Basics. London: Routledge.