Maria Montessori was born on 31st August 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy and is remembered as the founder of the famous Montessori Method of Education, which emphasised hands-on, individual learning and building on the way children naturally learn.
Her teaching strategies and her discoveries about the process of learning revolutionised the field of education and profoundly influenced children’s education all over the world.
Above all, Maria Montessori felt her most significant discovery was the awareness that it is the teacher who must pay rapt attention to the students, not the other way around – a notion utterly contrary to the expectations of her day. She found that by observing how individual children responded to various lessons and materials, she would know what lessons/experiences to present next. By acknowledging that each child is an individual, with individual needs and abilities, she could apply this method to guiding children to fulfilment of their potential.
She demonstrated the truth of this philosophy by transforming the lives and minds of the children with whom she worked – children with special needs. These children, once relegated to the asylum, were now able not only to master basic skills of self-care, but to pass academic tests designed for mainstream children.
She opened the first Montessori school, the Casa dei Bambini, or Children’s House, in Rome on 6th January, 1907. In the years following, and for the rest of her life, Maria dedicated herself to advancing her child-centred approach to education. She lectured widely, wrote articles and books, and developed a programme to prepare teachers in the Montessori Method. Through her efforts and the work of her followers, Montessori education was adopted worldwide and there are now more than 22,000 Montessori schools in at least 110 countries worldwide.
Despite the familiarity of her name, few realise that much of the developmental hands-on approach now employed in the pre-school environment can be traced to the innovations of Maria Montessori.
Although best known as an educator, Maria Montessori’s formal training was as a scientist and medical doctor. She is also notable for having been Italy’s first female MD. For her committed efforts on behalf of children, especially in the face of World War II, she was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Child's Play Montessori School 