Why Montessori?

Universally, the most common method of education in the world seems to be the transfer of knowledge from teacher to student. It is the understanding that children are empty vessels who need to be filled with knowledge. In Montessori education, it is otherwise; it is not a curriculum that has to be followed linearly, but it is a way of life. This educational method is centred around the child, keeping his developmental needs and interests in mind.

Montessori education as it is popularly known across the world was developed by Dr Maria Montessori in 1907. She was an Italian physician who took special interest in early childhood education when she was asked to take charge of the education of a group of children with special needs. While creating a free space and didactic materials to work with for these underprivileged children, she experimented and observed many manifestations that were unlike any associated with children at that time. She noticed that they were drawn to learning and working with their hands, taking care of themselves and their environment. They were able to concentrate for long periods of time, and the initial unruliness dissipated into a peaceful, kind, collaborative community of children.

Similar environments began to be set up and the same behaviour revealed itself again and again. It was as if the child’s true nature was ‘discovered’. Thus came about her method of education based on her observation of children. She perceived the long childhood of human development to adulthood and observed the developmental needs through this time. She grouped different needs at different periods of time, across 0-6, 6-12, 12-18 and 18-24 years, from birth to becoming an adult. Once the characteristics of the child in particular age groups were understood, the adult’s responsibility then became to create an environment which supported the natural development of the child.

According to Dr Montessori, education is an ‘aid to life’, not just in the classroom, but also in the home and social environment and the cornerstone of her philosophy is independence; the ability to do/think by oneself.

Years of observation of Montessori children have shown them to be independent from a very young age, functionally and then intellectually. They are joyful, curious and confident learners, thinking critically and being able to articulate themselves clearly and mindfully. They are respectful, follow the rules of the society for the collective good and not because they are told to and are able to place the needs of others in the forefront when needed. They are creative, have great self esteem, are able to collaborate within a group and also come up with solutions when they do run into challenges.

Even though we all wish for this kind of development for our children, we do not know how to get to this. These are not achieved by only using the materials that Montessori designed. A prepared physical space forms a part of a much bigger preparation of the adult in the environment, who is more of a guide, offering the right help at the right time.

The first step in creating a space conducive for development is acknowledging and respecting the child’s innate powers that naturally gears him to work towards his development. We create an environment understanding the developmental needs of the child of a particular age. This could be as simple as providing a clean floor for a crawling child or providing a stool to remove shoes to a child yearning for functional independence or working on an experiment with a reasoning child. The environment has to be dynamic or it becomes an obstacle that impedes development, not keeping in pace with the child’s dynamic needs.

Once such a space is created with utmost thought to every detail, the child is allowed to function in this mini society with multi-aged children (within 3 year range). In such a setting, Montessori observed how children naturally came to each other’s help, became role models and respected the strengths of each other. This fosters collaboration and self-discipline and children work towards the best version of themselves, without competing with each other.

The Montessori community is a home for children, where everything is accessible and child sized, unlike the adult world that they live in. This allows them to be more successful and confident in their efforts of attaining functional independence and this extends to taking ownership of the space as well and taking care of it, be it by dusting the shelves or preparing a snack for the community. The class has an open day, not divided into particular subject hours and children purposefully work and persevere in their interests without constraints on time.

There is freedom to make choices with clear boundaries that is a cornerstone to any social community. Such consistent limits, set in a firm and respectable manner, allows the child to understand what is acceptable and what is not in a social setting and build a sense of security. The opportunity to choose and experience the consequences strengthens the child’s developing will. There is only one item of everything in the classroom, which provides an opportunity to wait for one’s turn and respect other’s work. Experiences and explorations of the natural world inspires and lays the foundation for further study of the complexity and interdependency of life.

There are no testing systems or grades awarded to children. As the children function in the prepared space, the most powerful tool that the guide relies on to understand the development of each child, the challenges faced and to plan ahead is objective observation. This is just like a scientist/naturalist, patiently observing the unfolding of life. Such an observation while holding oneself back is a skill that needs continuous honing. On observation, each child is guided based on their capabilities, and are allowed the time to work at their pace, unlike one syllabus that is followed for all the children at the same time.

Walking into a Montessori classroom, one notices a buzz of activity with individual or groups of children working by themselves, some exploring the garden, some preparing a snack or eating at a limited community table, some helping to clean up a spill, some watching others work, some winding up and putting away what they have worked on, with the unobtrusive adult, watching and stepping in when necessary.