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What is Montessori?

What is Montessori?

“Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment."  

Maria Montessori

 

What is Montessori education?

The educational method of Doctor Maria Montessori, an Italian teacher and humanist (1870-1952), is based on self-directed activity and hands-on learning in a specially prepared environment. In Montessori classrooms children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom and the teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process. Children work in groups and individually to discover and explore knowledge of the world and to develop their maximum potential. 



The basic difference of Montessori method from conventional education is an attitude to the child as to a unique individuality with a huge in-born potential - all children are born with 100 000 000 000 neurons in their brain ready to work! 

Montessori classrooms are beautifully crafted environments designed to meet the needs of children in a specific age range. Every material in a Montessori classroom supports an aspect of child development, creating a match between the child’s natural interests and the available activities. Children can learn through their own experience and at their own pace. They can respond at any moment to the natural curiosities that exist in all humans and build a solid foundation for life-long learning.

The role of a teacher is to link the child with the activities in the environment, to give him an opportunity to go his own, unique way in order to realize his creative potential.

Doctor Montessori was deeply convinced that any child is a person, capable of opening his/her huge potential in an active work. This work aims mastering of the environment as well as the culture created by previous generations. 

The phenomenon of Montessori method consists in its boundless belief in the nature of the child, in its tendency to exclude any authoritative pressure upon a forming person as well as to orientate to a free, independent, active person!

Children attending Montessori classes love to work, are attached to reality, obedient, not possessive, have skills of concentrating, exhibit independence and initiative, are self-disciplined and show great joy in learning. 

The Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) was established by Maria Montessori in 1929 to protect the integrity of her work and to support high standards for both teacher training and schools. Today, AMI continues to uphold Maria Montessori’s vision while collaborating with contemporary research in neuroscience and child development.