Children move through sensitive periods

Montessori noticed that there were certain periods of particular sensitivity that kept occurring in the children. During these periods the child could learn the activity that she was focused on at a particularly intense rate and that such learning appeared to come very easily. They included a sensitive period for order, refinement of the senses, language acquisition, walking and movement, small objects and involvement in social life. What became clear is that at such times it was as though there was a light shining on that particular activity that completely held the childs attention. If left to follow this natural interest the child could achieve much more than would normally be expected. Montessori teachers therefore watch out for these very creative periods and make sure that the children have the freedom to follow their interests.

Children learn through their senses

Montessori saw that children built on their physical experiences of the world through their senses and that by carefully designing interesting materials which the children were drawn to experiment with, she could help them extend this understanding. She did so by taking each of the senses in turn and developing materials that isolated certain aspects that could then be increasingly explored by the children. She believed that children loved working with beautiful objects so all the materials were prepared with the greatest care. Rather than proving to be outdated in the modern world, these beautifully designed items have gone on to show how accurate Montessoris initial observations were. Many are now reproduced in schools of all types throughout the world.

Children need freedom

Montessori saw freedom as the single most important factor in allowing children to develop as spontaneous, creative individuals. She saw the role of education as providing environments in which the children could be set free to follow their natural impulses to become the wonderfully dynamic, natural learners they were designed to be.

Children absorb their culture

Montessori's emphasis on children being allowed the freedom to work alone and to develop concentration, did not mean that she underestimated the importance of social development. Instead what she saw was that it was precisely because the children were allowed to work in such freedom that they could display such love and care towards others. She saw that children literally absorbed the world around them and that true discipline and harmony was something that came from within and was not something that could be enforced.

Big Teachers

Montessori called her teachers Directresses because she felt that they sensitively guided, rather than controlled, the childrens activities. She asked that they be more psychologists than teachers and considered that success lay in the ongoing nature of the teachers own personal development as well as on the sensitivity of the observations of individual children. Ultimately she saw their role as not so much to teach the children as to direct the natural energies that they saw emerging.

Little Teachers

As she watched the children busily going about their work Montessori realised that it was natural and very easy for the younger children to learn by watching and listening to the older children. In fact she saw that children learn best this way and that something wonderful happened when a community of children could actively support and help each other. Montessori schools therefore encourage children of all ages to work together as a social group and do not normally split children by sex or age.

Children are natural learners

Montessori saw that children underwent extraordinary transformations in overall happiness, self-confidence and self-discipline when they were allowed to follow their innate needs. She saw that the work of a child, therefore, was fundamentally different to that of the adult: that the child worked for the joy of the process rather than for the end result, that the child had a need to repeat activities over and over until an inner need was fulfilled, and that the child was excited and energised through work, rather than burdened and fatigued by it. She felt that children only stopped loving learning when they were forced to go against their natural impulses.

Processes not Results

Montessori schools believe that children are at their happiest when they are busily involved in processes. Children are natural learners who, if left to follow their instincts, will want to constantly explore the world. All too often what stops children enjoying this natural curiosity are external demands that don't fit with their needs. The only results young children are interested in are the ones that end up making them feel good about themselves and their abilities. When they learn, instead, that there are unacceptable results that make them feel bad about themselves they start to fear the processes. And that fear can cut them off from the joy of learning forever.

Montessori schools therefore believe that each child is an individual and should be encouraged to work at the pace that is right for him or her. There are no grades or tests. Children are never in competition with each other.