The Montessori approach to early years education is nearing a century old. Mary Evans looks at why it has stood the test of time
Maria Montessori was a true pioneer. After be-coming the first woman to qualify as a doctor in Italy she founded an educational philosophy which spread rapidly across the world.
She drew on her observational skills as a clinician working with children in the slums of Rome in the early 1900s to develop the fundamental principles of her approach to early education: given the right tools and stimulation, children would teach themselves.
In putting her ideas into practice, she also proved herself to be a great innovator. A Montessori classroom has equipment specifically designed to support all areas of a child's development. Many of her radical ideas are now accepted as standard in mainstream education. For example, Dr Montessori was the first person to think of providing child-sized furniture in a classroom.
Leading practitioners argue that because the Montessori method is rooted in the young child's development it stands the tests of time and is not subject to the vagaries of educational trends.
Barbara Isaacs, chief executive of Montessori Centre International, says, 'I find it extremely refreshing that because it is based on observations of the child and because it is based in meeting the individual needs of the children, you are meeting the needs of the child today. It is timeless.'
Rosie Pressland, principal of Pocklington Montessori School, says, 'The methods do not dictate to the child. The child does not have to rely upon the teacher to learn. It is the child who calls the shots.'
The Montessori approach is a beautiful triangle of the child, the teacher and the prepared environment, says Claire Ash Wheeler, proprietor of Chagford Montessori School, Devon, and Devon co-ordinator of Montessori Education UK's early years forum.
'Montessori requires that the teacher is always looking at herself, reflecting upon herself, re-assessing herself in relation to the child. It is a creative process.'
She adds, 'With Montessori, you have a curriculum, so your record- keeping is straightforward. You know what you are doing with the children, what your goals and intentions are. The staff knows where it is going sequentially.'
Critics commonly hold one of two views. Some say it is rigid while others argue it is laissez faire. 'Neither is true,' says Ms Isaacs. 'You cannot have true freedom without having some kind of responsibility for the choices you make and some ground rules for the well being of the group.
''The adults need to be skilled and need to know how to support the individual child in its learning which requires very good powers of observation and sensitivity so the child trusts in her own ability to learn.'
In the past, it was said that anyone could buy the kit and open up as a Montessori nursery. No longer, says Ms Isaacs. 'The requirements of the Children Act and Ofsted's regulation of the national standards means it is no longer possible to open a Montessori school without having trained Montessori teachers.
There is now a Montessori accreditation scheme which is administered by Montessori Education UK. We launched the scheme because we were concerned to maintain quality. To gain accreditation schools have to be fully equipped, have qualified staff and have to adhere to the fundamental principles of the Montessori pedagogy.'
The Montessori teaching qualification has been recognised by Ofsted and the DfES but is not on the QCA framework. Ms Isaacs adds, 'Montessori is an international movement but the QCA framework is only relevant to England and not even the whole of the UK, so it is pretty limiting. We have formed a consortium of Montessori awarding bodies which has agreed to meet the requirement of the framework.'
Case study
Many early years settings operate from church halls but the West End Montessori Pre-School, in Glasgow meets in a room attached to the city's Episcopalian Cathedral.
The school, owned by Denise Guthrie, offers morning and afternoon sessions for 20 children at a time and is staffed by five teachers.
'Our large open-plan room is set out into different areas. In the practical life area the children do threading, stitching exercises, juicing oranges, pestle and mortar work and lots of activities that are good for hand-eye co-ordination.
'As the children become more confident, we have the sensorial area where they use the pieces of equipment people know: the pink tower, the knobbed cylinders, the knobless cylinder, the broad stair.
'When they build the tower they learn about size, how you have to place a smaller cube on a bigger one and they learn about shape. They go through a natural progression as they become more confident.
'The children explore the materials. They will maybe look at the colour or feel the texture. When they start exploring colours they will start off with a box of bold primary colours and progress to secondary colours.
'In the language area, the children start tracing letters in sand trays. They also have sandpaper letters to feel and explore. They are not expected to be holding pencils. Before they do that, they have to be ready. They do an awful lot of groundwork.
'The children work at their activities until 10.30am when we come together in a circle. We have grace and courtesy where they learn skills like how to blow their nose and the children learn to respect each other.
'We have a snack table set up from 9am. It is a good time for them to socialise. We use proper glasses and ceramic plates. It is a controlled area and if there is a breakage it can be cleared up without any problems but the children learn to be careful. They help prepare the food, put it out and wipe the table.
'Group activities can be quite spontaneous. When we have group time we will have songs and stories and then we go out into the garden for about 30 minutes. If it is a beautiful day we can be out for nearly an hour because there are lots of things to do. We have a sandpit and plant areas, and a big tent too.
'We have a computer area but the children are limited to ten minutes. The computer is such a solitary thing. We want to see the children interacting and socialising.'
The afternoon session follows a similar pattern with activities, story time, play in the garden, grace and courtesy as well as crafts or dressing up.
Further information
- Montessori Education UK represents the UK Montessori training organisations and provides a schools accreditation programme and examination monitoring system. Tel:020 8946 4433 www.montessorieducationuk.org
- Full-time, part-time and distance-learning courses are available around the country but to qualify to work as a Montessori teacher the student must undertake teaching practice.
Montessori Education UK members are:
- Bournemouth Montessori Centre, tel: 01202 780010
- Montessori College Wimbledon, tel: 020 8946 8139
- Maria Montessori Institute, London, tel: 020 7435 3646
- Montessori Centre International, London, tel: 020 7493 0165
- Oxford Montessori Centre, tel: 01865 358210
- TIME, Barnet, Hertfordshire, tel: 020 84471565
- The Montessori Partnership, Winchester, tel: 01962 715675