Educational Philosophy

The basic principle in the Montessori philosophy of education is that every child carries within him potentialities of the PERSON that he can become.  In order to develop his physical, intellectual, and spiritual powers to the fullest, he must have freedom - a freedom to be achieved through order and self-discipline.

The world is full of sights and sounds which at first appear chaotic.  From this chaos the child must gradually create order, and learn to distinguish the impression that assail his senses, slowly but surely he will gain mastery of himself and his environment.  Dr. Montessori developed what she called the “prepared environment”, which already possesses a definite order and disposes the child to develop at his own speed, according to his own capacities, and in a non-competitive atmosphere during the first school years.  “Never let a child risk failure until he as a reasonable chance of success”, says Dr. Montessori, understanding the necessity for the acquisition of a basic skill before its use in a competitive learning situation.

The years between three and six are the years that a child most easily learns the ground rules of human behavior.  His character, fundamentally, is constructively devoted to “civilizing” the child - freeing him through the acquisition of good manners and habits to take his place in the culture in which he lives.  The child who has had the benefits of a Montessori environment is freer at a later age to devote himself more exclusively to the development of his intellectual faculties.  The method by which children are taught in a Montessori school might well be called “structural learning”.  Since the child has learned to work by himself in the prepared environment, he is ready to enjoy the presence of other children without necessarily working directly with them.  The Montessori teacher, thus, is able to work with each child individually.  The structure of the Montessori learning and training involves the use of many materials with which the child may work independently.  These materials were painstakingly and scientifically developed by Dr. Montessori over a fifty year period of work and observation.

The criterion of the existence of any particular piece of apparatus within the prepared environment is dictated in relation to its direct ability to answer the needs of the child on a physical, mental, or spiritual level.  Apparatus provides the motives for activity of the child.  It is also most important to note that most of the Montessori material have what is termed a built-in “control of error”, e.g. the error is self-evident to the child, making adult intervention unnecessary.

Dr. Montessori has recognized that the only valid impulse to learning is the self-motivation of the child.  Children move themselves toward learning.  Adults often intervene, with the best intention, and place obstacles to learning in the child’s path.  Children will learn, because of or in spite of the adults in their world.  To this effect, Dr. Montessori stated that any unnecessary help given to the child hinders him in growth.  The teacher prepares the environment, directs the activity, functions as the authority and protector of the children and the environment, and offers the work according to the readiness of each child.