Essence of Montessori Education

Maria Montessori developed this pedagogy in the early 1900’s. The methods she developed are still relevant in today’s world. One of the beauties of this method is that it is timeless. Montessori method is a child centric approach based on observations made on the child. She believed that children are born explorers and the role of the teacher and caregiver must merely be that of a facilitator.

The main pillars of the Montessori Method are the prepared environment, the materials and the teacher called as the Directress in the Montessori setting.

Prepared Environment

Children are born with an innate potential for learning. By providing the correct environment the child will learn by himself. She believed that the teacher should change the environment to suit the learning needs of the child rather than ask the child to change as per the surroundings. Some of the key needs of a proper environment are order, safety and accessibility.

Materials

The materials are the second important element in the Montessori environment. Maria Montessori through her observations of the child came up with specific materials to cater to different learning areas. The materials have to be age appropriate and safe. The materials should have an inbuilt control of error so that the child can autocorrect himself without the adult having to interfere. They should have an isolation of the property that is being taught. For example, in the pink tower, there are 10 cubes where only the size is the property that changes where as the other properties like shape and colour remain same. This removes distraction and brings the focus automatically to the variation in size.

Directress

In Montessori terms the teacher is called the directress. The reason is that the role of the adult should be that of the facilitator and observer. Maria Montessori observed that the child is not merely an empty vessel which the adult needs to fill with their own knowledge. Rather they have an innate potential which needs to be developed for which the adult should setup the right environment with appropriate materials. The learning will automatically happen. The role of the directress is also to make the child aware of the rules of the environment as the freedom is within limits and the child is not allowed to misuse the materials or the environment. The directress has to demonstrate to the child the correct method of using the materials and then observe him when he uses it. The directress has to be good at unbiased observations of the child.

From her studies she proved that the child himself will give clues to attain his highest potential and pave the way for his learning. This freedom, albeit within limits, makes a contented and happy child who is self-motivated to learn.