What Is Montessori Education? A Different View of Child Development

Montessori education is a universal approach developed by the Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori that encourages children to learn at their own pace and according to their own interests.

At the heart of this philosophy lies the belief that children learn best not through instructions dictated from outside, but by discovering and experiencing things themselves in a "prepared environment". Unlike traditional education, the Montessori system puts cooperation before competition, and intrinsic motivation before reward and punishment.

Montessori as a Scientific Approach

With the powers of observation that came from her training as a physician, Maria Montessori studied the stages of children's development with great care. What she discovered was this: a child is not born as a blank slate (tabula rasa). On the contrary, children have an innate hunger for learning and a remarkable power to build themselves (the absorbent mind).

Montessori education shapes this potential around the following principles:

• Independence: "Help me to do it myself" is the heart of Montessori. When a child manages to pour their own water, put on their shoes or solve a maths problem on their own, their self-confidence grows on solid ground.
• Freedom of Movement: While children in traditional classrooms stay at their desks, in a Montessori classroom they decide for themselves which material to work with, where (at a table or on a rug) and with whom.
• Mixed-Age Groups: Classes usually bring together children across a three-year span (for example ages 3–6). Younger children learn by following older ones, and older children strengthen their leadership skills by helping younger ones.

“

"The child is the builder of man. There is no man who has not been built by the child he once was."

Explore Further

If you would like to get to know the Montessori philosophy better and see how your child can thrive in this system, be sure to read our article "The Child at the Heart of Education: The Child-Centred Approach".

Read it here