Montessori schools – education system that seems to work.

Wednesday January 17th, 2018

Back to school after the Christmas break and many children are met back at schools with exams. Common Entrance exams for some, Mock GCSE or A-Level tests for others. Hopefully Christmas was spent not just having fun, but also doing some revision!

School years can be stressful. But is this stress necessary? Is there an alternative?

In this newsletter we will look at Montessori schools and Montessori system.

What do you see when you think of a conventional classroom at school? Do you see a group of children of the same age, sitting at their desks, instructed by a teacher, writing endless tests and released by the bell?

But the ‘conventional’ schooling system is not the only one around.  For more than a hundred years, Montessori schools provide an alternative approach to education, based on children’s creativity and innate desire to learn.

Famous ‘Montessorians’ – people who attended a Montessori School – include Google co-founders Sergey Brinn and Lary Page, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, actors George Clooney and Dakota Fanning, writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, violinist Joshua Bell,  and many other creative and successful people. Montessori alumni often credit their schools with giving them an ability of independent thinking.

A 2006 study of 5 and 12 years old children’s cognitive and social skills by A. Lillard and N. Else-Quest published in “Science” found that children in Montessori schools outperformed their peers in conventional education.

This system is often implemented in one way or another in a number of British traditional schools that don’t use Montessori name as such. So what is it about this system that seems to work so well?

Dr. Maria Montessori, a professional educator, thought that children have a development path. Montessori believed that children who can choose their activities and act freely within an enriched environment would achieve optimal development.

British association of Montessori education lists following traits of good Montessori education:

●       The children work most of the time individually, coming together when they wish to, at different periods during the day. These periods are not set but arise out of the needs of the children. For example, a child decides to build a tower from various wooden blocks. She doesn’t need to ask permission, but goes to the ‘construction area’ and starts building; later another child or several join her. The teacher observes their activity in parallel with other children and may assist them but will step in as a referee only if they run into a difficulty or a disagreement the builders cannot solve among themselves.

●       Children of mixed ages work together. The most common group age is 3 to 6 years old, but 6–9, 9–12, 12–15 also exist. If you remember your own childhood when children of different ages who lived in one area played together, you would agree that spending time in a mixed age group is different from working with your classmates and the information and skills flow naturally in an informal group of children.

●       Children have access to a full range of the Montessori learning resources and materials appropriate for their age.  This includes materials and instruments for drawing, painting and sculpting (from the usual plasticine to modelling clay), fabrics, buttons, threads and needles for sewing, teaching aids to promote reading and children’s books. Natural compounds such as wood preferred to artificial (plastics).

●       Classes promote the children’s freedom to make spontaneous choices, to be independent, to complete cycles of work, to develop a sense of responsibility within the group, to use the materials properly. If we follow the child who decided to play in the building area, the supervising teacher will encourage her and her group mates to complete her tower rather  than abandon it halfway. After the tower is built the teacher will make sure that the children tidy up after themselves.

●       Children actively engage with developing materials that lead them to successive levels of discovery about their world. For example, learning resources include age appropriate interactive games that require development of historical, geographical and environmental knowledge.  Walls can be decorated with maps, pictures of animals and corresponding words. Children will be encouraged to look at and read the pictures.

●       The environment is simple, beautiful, and maintained to a high standard. Montessori schools care about design of their outdoor and indoor spaces. Bright, optimistic colours preferred in decorations, often incorporating teaching material such as simple geometric shapes. Children’s furniture is also constructed from natural materials.

●       Montessori schools promote engagement with outdoor spaces.  An outdoor environment that is also well maintained and used for children’s activities. A school is often surrounded and always have access to an enclosed natural outdoor environment – a garden or park. After making sure that the children are dressed according to the weather they can go outside and play in the gym area including slides, climbing frames etc. or continue other activities, for example, painting en plein air.

●       The teachers are always positive and encouraging, they care about each child’s harmonious development in contrast with conventional education where often standartised tests serve as a benchmarks. To work in a Montessori School conventionally trained early years teachers require additional courses in  Montessori teaching and accreditation by one of the professional associations.

●       At any time in the classroom, there’s a ratio at least 1 adult to 8 children that engage in classroom activity. While the teacher does not dictate what to do, children are supervised at all times, it’s just that the teacher adjusts to children’s activities.

Maria Montessori did not trademark her name. Because her educational techniques proved to be effective and are often incorporated on “pick and mix” basis, there’s no exhaustive list of Montessori Schools list in any country.

The wonderful kindergarten my son went to was Montessori inspired. The playing room had separate “areas” of building blocks and Meccano-like construction toys, a mini wood-workshop, painting workshop, phonics materials and books area, water in a paddling pool and water-associated toys, and an outdoor playing area. 4 to 6 year olds were choosing what they were doing and invite other children to join them while being supervised by very warm and caring teachers.

The UK has reputation for excellent education system that includes over 700 Montessori schools and 31,000 children in Montessori settings.