The Montessori Method

 

Maria Montessori, a trained doctor from Anacona, Italy, pioneered a new approach to the way children were taught, giving them the freedom to take responsibility for their education and enabling them to choose which activities they would like to work on each day.  The first Montessori Children’s House was established on 6^th January 1907, when Montessori was invited to set up an educational institution for the children of a newly build housing estate in a slum district of Rome.  The basis of the Montessori approach was to provide children with a safe environment whereby each child was nurtured so they could achieve their full potential.  The theory was that children were active learners; give them a favourable environment and they will want to learn.  The new approach to education was developed using her medical background as well as knowledge in the fields of anthropology and pedagogy (Isaacs, 2012).  The structure of the Montessori approach follows the principles that children can and will learn without fancy technology, they can learn from what is around them.   When teaching children about the difference between hot and cold, it is more effective to use experience; taking the children outside from the warm, into the cold will demonstrate the temperature fluctuation.  Whilst out there the pupils can learn other lessons from their environment, if it has snowed then they can learn about the structural forms of water; the initial snow that they see, take it inside and it will melt and turn to water, put the water into the freezer and they will learn that the water doesn’t return to its original snow form, instead it creates ice.  They will have learnt all of these things by simply using their surroundings (Montessori, 1965).

Although the Montessori method does not follow the traditional structures of learning that we would normally recognise there is an impressive list of Montessori educated success stories that would support the effectiveness of the education method; including: 

 

(MariaMontessori.com, 2014)

As with any other education system, there are some Montessori schools that have their shortcomings.  In 2013 Discovery New School, Crawley was threatened with closure following an inspection that highlighted its many shortcomings.  The school are currently in talks with consultants to improve their failings, however the future of the school is still very much unknown (BBC News, 2013).

 

References

BBC News, 2013. Discovery New School action plan after closure threat. [Online]
Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25323625
[Accessed 09 January 2014].

Isaacs, B., 2012. Understanding Montessori Approach. Oxon: Routledge.

MariaMontessori.com, 2014. Montessori Graduates. [Online]
Available at: http://mariamontessori.com/mm/?page_id=571
[Accessed 09 January 2014].

Montessori, M., 1965. Spontaneous Activity in Education: The Advanced Montessori Approach. United States of America: Shocken Books Inc..