There's more than one way to do anything, including educating children. Let's pause on that for a moment. Why do we educate children? You might think that's a rather strange question. But seriously, kids don't need

  • lessons in eating
  • walking coaches
  • classes for learning how to play
  • speaking tutors
  • courses in how to dress themselves
  • any discovery guidance

From birth to around age five, children undergo explosive intellectual and cognitive growth. They learn how to walk and talk by imitation. They master feeding themselves as soon as they develop sufficient control over their hands and arms. They invent a million new ways to use the most ordinary of things. A stick can be a gun, a microphone, or a wizard's wand...

Discovery! Everything from eating mud pies to chomping on the dog's ear and putting their little hands on the hot stove brings another lesson. Nobody gives kids formal lessons for any of this. Indeed, all children need are firm boundaries to keep them safe as they teach themselves about their environment and how to interact with it. But then, what happens?

Then, we ship them off to school. There, kids are conditioned to listen to and obey their teachers. They are to sit where they're told, when they're told. They go outside for recess when scheduled, go to lunch when instructed and go home when the school day is over. All of that whether they want to or not.

Isn't there a better way? Couldn't we preserve that early childhood curiosity? Protect the intuitive leaps they're bound to make? Produce an environment where such learning is encouraged? That's what we talk about today.

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Let's go

The Montessori Method: Background

Where and when did the Montessori movement start? It stretches back to the early 1900s. María Montessori, the first female doctor in Italy, established the pedagogy. She had a hard fight of it, though. She earned her medical degree while battling profound discrimination.

Ms Montessori specialised in paediatrics and psychology. Upon graduation, she accepted a post working with children who were developmentally delayed and physically challenged. She proved unusually adept at the job and, as her reputation grew, she began attracting speaking invitations. Soon, she was travelling all over Italy. Word of her work got to the directors of the National League. When they opened their Orthophrenic School, a school for children with profound learning difficulties, they appointed her as the co-director.

A white shelving unit with eight cubbies, each containing a single wooden toy.
Maria Montessori insisted that her students maintain an orderly classroom environment. Photo by Carrie Allen on Unsplash

Many of Maria Montessori's pedagogical applications found success in working with other-abled children. However, she was keen to find out if her methods would work as well with 'ordinary' children. And so, 10 years after graduating from medical school, she opened the first Casa dei Bambini - literally Children's House. She set up her 'learning house' in the same way that brought joy to her previous students.

And then, she observed. The 'ordinary' children revelled in the systematic order. The children exhibited a profound focus on tasks that interested them. They often repeated 'experiments', apparently until they'd derived full understanding from them. Most importantly, although the learning sessions were unstructured, the children eschewed toys and even sweets. They preferred exercising their minds.

Maria Montessori believed that encouraging children to work independently taught them to be self-motivated. She proved that even young children can and should be independent learners. She promoted children's ‘natural spirituality’; the essence of being a child. And she encouraged her kids to rely on their ‘precise inner guides’.

Ms Montessori proved that children are natural learners. Her methods underscore the importance of giving learners free educational rein. The Montessori learning method encourages students' innate learning abilities. If the idea of your child being their own ‘inner guide’ is in line with your own values and beliefs, don't bother with rote learning and homework assignments. Standard educational fare won't satisfy when the Montessori is for you.

Inside a Montessori School

What will you see when you enter a Montessori learning space? Probably the first thing to catch your eye will be that everything is size-appropriate and easy to move. In Ms Montessori's time, school desks were large, heavy things; the better to intimidate kids with. She wanted furniture her kids could both fit in and push out of the way. It gave them more control over their space.

So don't look for the standard, row-after-row classroom setup. Not only are the tables and chairs arranged haphazardly around the space but there will likely be beanbags and armchairs, too. You never know when a learner has to sit comfortably and reflect on their experiences.

You will find a teacher's desk and chair but it will not take pride of place at the head of the room. Most likely, it will be tucked off to one corner, probably next to an array of cabinets and shelves. Those are where you'll find the discovery materials. They serve as learning supplies. You will probably also find an assortment of cleaning implements - brooms, dusting rags and child-safe cleaning solutions.

If your concept of school revolves around the traditional classroom setup, a Montessori room could lead you to think that it must be a range for free-for-all activity. Quite the contrary! Order is of the highest importance, according to the Montessori method. A child cannot feel secure in their learning environment if it is disordered. Furthermore, they must be empowered to bring order and maintain it. Hence the cleaning implements and supplies.

In a typical Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) classroom, the teachers spend a lot of time helping children with their clothing. Putting on coats, taking off jackets, tying their shoes... At Montessori, independence is encouraged from the first day. In the cloakrooms (or some part of the classroom), you might find special frames to help kids do up and undo clothes.

EYFS teachers have to do other things for their kids, too. Practical things like pouring them a drink or cutting paper and yarn for class projects. At Montessori, greater emphasis is placed on the process rather than results. What does it matter if the child can't cut along a dotted line? At least, they know what it feels like (and what it takes) to manipulate a pair of scissors. Who cares if a cup spilled over? At least, the child learned the mechanics of pouring while testing their hand-eye coordination.

Children are also encouraged to carry out tasks they may often see parents completing at home and they are invited to practise skills like measuring, spooning and whisking liquids. They work together, regardless of age, since children learn a lot from one another. These kids are taught a series of practical life skills, as well. Those include cooking, washing dishes, gardening, caring for animals, self-defence and much more.

How are Montessori learning centres different from traditional schools in the UK? To the uninitiated, it seems the Montessori curriculum is all over the map. Looking closer, you'll see ideal learning conditions, uniquely suited for gifted and talented learners. In a Montessori school, you'll not find anyone who believes children perform better under pressure. In fact, they maintain that children should not be pressured by external demands.

A boy in an orange top stands in front of a low-level storage shelf and marvels over a wooden box of materials.
In Montessori classrooms, discovery items are stored within children's reach. Photo by Paige Cody on Unsplash

 Montessori Teaching Methods

Everything you've read so far might have led you to believe that an academic curriculum has never crossed a Montessori threshold. And that, though there is the appearance of the structure, it's not regimented. What a frightening word to use in describing an educational process!

On that point, you'd be quite right. There is no regimentation in a Montessori school. But then, whoever said regimentation had to be imposed before a child can learn anything? Certainly not the Montessori teaching philosophy.

In the last segment, you read that process is the focus; not results. That begs the question: what is the average human learning process? We take in information, make a determination about it and judge it. For instance, how do children learn about strawberries? They see them - red and plump, with their green cap attached. They smell them; a bit zingy and sweet. They squeeze them to note the delicate texture. They bite them: an explosion of taste!

Thus, children establish that strawberries are good - or bad if they don't like them. You'll note, though, that all five senses are involved in that discovery process. Montessori teaching emphasises the importance of learning through the senses by providing children with beautiful, carefully prepared materials.

That's great, you say. But what about academics? Mathematics is taught in quite a revolutionary way. Learners are introduced to the decimal system as young as age 3. Units of tens, hundreds and thousands are represented by different coloured learning materials. Each colour represents the decimal hierarchy in 3D form. YouTube has several enlightening videos of a typical early learning maths class if you want to see for yourself how the maths curriculum works.

From the ages of three to 12, in addition to Reading and Language Arts, Mathematics, Geography and Science, children are given sensory training. These experiences train and emphasise the skills of perception, observation, fine discrimination and classification. For instance, children are taught to discern length, width and height without measuring tools. They solve complex abstract puzzles in three dimensions. Even hearing is addressed; students learn to discriminate between musical notes, different languages and subtle tone changes.

Even academic subjects are taught differently at Montessori schools. In Science class, for instance, children will learn interesting topics like astronomy and cosmology, nutrition and animal behaviour. Instead of learning basic computer skills like how to use a spreadsheet or build a database, they learn about coding and the binary numbering system that underpins all computer activity.

In a subject called Cultural Geography, they learn about fun cultural celebrations like Chinese New Year. But it's not just sitting around and looking at pictures. Kids learn how to cook Chinese food and how to use chopsticks.

A toddler with blond hair in a yellow outfit climbs over the rim of a sandbox.
From the very start, children discover and learn how to do things without any lessons. Photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash

Montessori Learning Methods

It might have seemed nonsensical, at the start of this article, to mention how babies learn. By now, you probably have a good idea why we did so. The Montessori method recreates early learning methods, but with added cognitive and intellectual development.

To reiterate what Maria Montessori proved more than 100 years ago: children are natural learners. They possess an insatiable curiosity and a wild sense of discovery. For the first few years of their lives, kids have free rein to explore and learn as they like, within safe boundaries. As long as they're allowed to, learners will turn away from distractions like toys and even electronic devices to continue discovering new things.

Not all children process experiences the same way. For instance, a gifted child might draw more complex conclusions from an experiment than one who's not so precocious. The Montessori learning system makes allowances for that. The curriculum and pedagogy draw on all of the intelligence to connect with every student.

Whether a child is more visual-spatial intelligent or naturalistic, Montessori schools have a lot to offer them. Unfortunately, many Montessori schools only offer a primary school or early years education. There are secondary schools that offer a special programme for learners, usually aged 12 to 15. Montessori learning is possible at a higher level, too, when students prepare for University or special qualifications like the International Baccalaureate.

Because it's so hard to find Montessori-method education for secondary school learners, many parents choose to homeschool their kids beyond the primary stage. For one, it would be inconceivable to send their now-older children into a more regimented learning environment. And for two, because they can replicate the Montessori method at home without too much effort or expense.

If this article has piqued your interest, then why not call a local Montessori school and take a look for yourself? It might just change your mind about what education is supposed to be like.

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Imogen

I'm an active energetic person. I enjoy long-distance running and have taken part in many organised events including the 2016 Prague Marathon. I'm a keen skier and love open-water swimming, when the weather is right!