Montessori is Upside Down, Inside Out and Around the World! by Leanne Tarran - MAA President People often ask "How is Montessori different to traditional education?". It is so hard to give a short answer to such a big question! I often trip over my own tongue and get sidetracked in details when what the other person usually wants is a short easy answer. Montessori education is very different and in very many ways. But after quite a bit of thought I have found a way to focus on just a few of the most important ways. So how is Montessori different? It is Upside Down, Inside Out and Around the World Education. It is upside down because while most people believe that the secondary school and the teritary years are the most important ones for education, we believe it is at the other end that the most important learning occurs - the early years. So, although Montessori education does cover all ages from birth to eighteen, it is the first 6 years that we believe are the most crucial. In those early years the child is learning how to learn, how to focus and concentrate, how to begin and end an activity, how to love learning for its own sake. It is at this time that, through a combination of their own choices and the environment they find themselves in (social, emotional and physical environment) that they are actually forming themselves. The child is building themselves with what they have. Their sense of self, their personality and their ability to do and to be. These are some of the reasons why these early years are the most important years in education and in life. This is also why most Montessori schools in Australia and the world are Preschools for 3-6 year olds, often with programs for under 3's as well. There are many Primary Schools and a few Secondary schools in Australia (and may they flourish and expand in numbers) but on the whole our emphasis and energy is on those first 6 years. It is inside out compared to traditional education because it is generally thought that education is something that happens from the outside to the inside, from a teacher to a student, from a textbook to a brain. This leads to curriculum being delivered in bite sized pieces - from the outside to the inside where it is hoped it will be digested and stored for later regurgitation. In Montessori we believe that the best and only real learning comes from the inside to the outside. From within the child's own unique self, through their own head and their own hands creating their own knowledge. We believe that education should not be something done to the child, or for the child, but something done by the child. Because of this, children in Montessori classrooms are given the gift of human knowledge at it's broadest, the biggest picture and the details as well. All scattered like seeds for the children to pick up if they interested. Each classroom is filled with many interesting and enticing activities to explore and investigate. The children are insipired by their own interest and supported in their active learning journey. The teacher in a Montessori classroom often seems invisible. They will be over there somewhere, working quietly with one child or with a small group. They are hardly ever up the front talking to the whole group of children at once. The teachers follow the child, each as an individual rather than expecting the children as a group to follow the teacher. It is also not the Montessori way for the teacher to yell or impose external discipline, rewards or punishments because the children have been supported in developing their own self discipline and inner motivation. They really love to learn and it is all happening - on the inside. A Montessori teacher greets each individual child at the start of the day, observes each individual child and gives lessons to each individual child, not rigidly according to the curriculum or the textbook. To do this the teacher needs to really know each child, on the inside, so as to know what to offer them next. This inner learning then comes to the outside in many active and creative ways. Through older children helping younger ones in the three year multiaged classrooms that are found in Montessori and through the childs’ drive to make a difference in the world, their confidence and assurance and their sense of wholeness. It is around the world in two ways. In the locations of Montessori schools on every continent and more that 200 countries. And it is around the world in perspecitve as it is a truly international education with geographical and cultural learning well beyond traditional school's curriculum. The vision of humanity, history and ecology conveyed by the Montessori approach encourages each child to seek a wider and deeper connection to the world. The Montessori child builds themselves and then a global awareness and social perspective that cannot help but be expressed on the outside in some caring and constructive way. So how is Montessori different, we really could not count the ways, but these are just a few - it's upside down, inside out and all around the world! - TOP -
- TOP -
This is also why most Montessori schools in Australia and the world are Preschools for 3-6 year olds, often with programs for under 3's as well. There are many Primary Schools and a few Secondary schools in Australia (and may they flourish and expand in numbers) but on the whole our emphasis and energy is on those first 6 years.
From within the child's own unique self, through their own head and their own hands creating their own knowledge. We believe that education should not be something done to the child, or for the child, but something done by the child.
This inner learning then comes to the outside in many active and creative ways. Through older children helping younger ones in the three year multiaged classrooms that are found in Montessori and through the childs’ drive to make a difference in the world, their confidence and assurance and their sense of wholeness.
The Montessori child builds themselves and then a global awareness and social perspective that cannot help but be expressed on the outside in some caring and constructive way.