For most practitioners working in Early Years there will have been a time when the word 'Montessori' popped into your consciousness. Maybe in your training or maybe hearing a colleague mention the word. Then follows a quick Google search and mini panic (or was that just me?). Is this something I should be doing? Is it new and revolutionary? Is it 1970s hippy claptrap? Am I already a Montessori teacher without knowing it? What's the big deal all about?
As the name may suggest to you, Maria Montessori was the creator of what we now call the Montessori approach. In answer to some of the above questions she was neither a 1970s free-loving hippy nor a 21st century blogging pioneer. She was in fact a medically trained Italian doctor who died at age 82 in 1952 (so for those of you who can't be bothered with a spot of maths whilst sat in your jammies drinking your morning coffee - she was born way back in the 1800s!) She specialised in scientific pedagogy and in particular studying and supporting "phrenasthenic" children (children who nowadays we would refer to as children with Special Educational Needs). Most of her research was based in the classroom and so her opinions on a holistic approach to learning for all children soon became a teaching method in its own right. Over the following years Maria travelled the world establishing schools and lecturing in her approach. So how did an approach first named the Montessori Approach in 1912 survive and thrive to still be popular and (on occasion) seen as daring and revolutionary over 100 years later? Well it was given a hand by Maria's many published works and the 4000 schools she established in her lifetime. There are now Montessori schools throughout the world focussing on ages 3-6 years (though some schools have older children too). The main drive for the schools is that an emphasis is placed on process not result, learning is child centred not teacher controlled and children are taught to do things for internal reward not external reward. The Montessori 'Approach' is actually quite a simple and instinctive approach once you learn a bit more about it. Maria Montessori believed that all children were inherently good and connected to nature and the world around them, much as we do when we look at a child as being born with a natural curiosity. She proposed that there were times in each child's life when they became more sensitive to certain types of learning (periods of order, refinement of senses, language acquisition, walking and movement, small objects and involvement in social life). Practitioners could tune into which period a child was in by observing their play and so be able to support their learning. As we have already seen, that is something we do when we are building philosophical thinkers form birth. She found that children learnt through their senses and enjoyed working with beautiful materials and resources. She felt that children became dynamic learners by being allowed to follow their natural impulses. Philosophy for children fits well with this idea as we allow children to follow their own ideas and train of thoughts, never telling them that their thoughts are silly or wrong during our philosophical chats. The role of the teacher (or 'Director') in a Montessori school is to be un-obstrusive during play and to guide, rather than control, learning, directing children's natural curiosities and energies. Again this is similar to a philosophy for children approach to being a practitioner (or facilitator). Children find it easy and natural to learn from older children so in most Montessori schools children are not separated by age. In P4C sessions learning is differentiated by questioning, modelling and scaffolding learning for each individual during play or focussed sessions and not by having separate ability groups. Montessori believed that young children work for the joy of the process not the end result which was why many children enjoy repeating the same activity over and over again. Again Philosophy for Children is a good fit as philosophy sessions never seek to find the ‘real’ answer but rather to encourage and celebrate the process of thinking and talking through different ideas, opinions and imagined scenarios. In both Montessori schools and P4C classrooms, children are seen as natural learners who want to explore the world. The results that children enjoy are the ones that make them feel good about themselves or their abilities. We help them to do this by listening, valuing their thoughts and ideas and entering into high quality interactions with them. If they are taught that there is always a right and a wrong result or answer then they will no longer enjoy the process or want to take risks. Although there are various parts of the Montessori approach that do not fit exactly with the Philosophy for Children approach, I have not looked at those here – they are minimal though, you can see that philosophy for children and the Montessori approach are not worlds apart.
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AuthorMiss Magical Mess is a pre-school teacher and P4C Level 2B facilitator. After a shaky start as a P4C facilitator (P4C with 3 year olds... are you kidding?) Miss Magical Mess created her own approach to P4C and enquiry model and is now a big fan. Archives |