MONTESSORI APPROACH

Dr. Maria Montessori was born in 1870 and became the first woman doctor in Italy. She studied Education, Philosophy, Psychology and Anthropology. By observing children in a scientific manner, and without the usual pre-conceived educational ideas, she was able to create new techniques of education which emphasized the unique development of each child.

This led to the Montessori system which has at its core an environment in which the child is free to develop their own skills and abilities. Dr. Montessori's first school achieved far greater academic success than the traditional state system and many of her ideas such as cross-curriculum teaching have now been adopted into `mainstream' education.

However, Montessori's ideas, both practical and Philosophical, are based on a co-ordinate approach tailored to each child's development. In the prepared Montessori environment, the child learns to explore and make their own discoveries about the world around them.

Mixed age groups afford the child the opportunity to help and be helped by other children and take part as both the youngest and oldest member.

Montessori teachers are called directresses because they direct the child's learning rather than `teaching' at them. Especially trained to observe, to respond to the needs of each child and to direct the whole group, they do not teach in the traditional sense, but rather guide each child forward.

Learning by rote is alien to the Montessori classroom. It is the child's own drive to enquire and explore their world which motivates the learning process.

The elementary child is entering a new sensitive period - developing their imagination. The younger child learns to co-ordinate hand-eye and large motor movements, practical life, and care of self. By contrast, the elementary child learns to co-ordinate their abstract thoughts and take imaginative steps beyond the physical limits of home, classroom and community. Imagination is the new area of growth, the mental push whereby the child explores nothing less than the world and universe around them.

"My vision of the future is no longer people taking exams and proceeding then on that certification, but of individuals passing from one stage of independence to a higher, by means of their own activity through their own effort of will, which constitutes the inner evolution of the individual"
~ Maria Montessori