MARIA MONTESSORI

M. Montessori

The Montessori approach is a method of educating children, based on the research and developments of Italian educator Maria Montessori (1870 - 1952). She has been referred to as‘ the doctor who revolutionised the education systems of the world’ dedicating her life to studying child development and spending a greater part of her life to writing, lecturing and teaching about these practices. She observed that children learn through their senses so therefore developed these ‘sensory materials’ to facilitate childrens learning. She was one of the first ‘educators’ to dispense with more formal style of teaching and was the person who introduced child sized furniture and equipment into the classrooms. She was passionate about developing the child’s sense of independence and creating an environment in which each child would thrive believing that children wanted to learn and that they had a great need for order and tidiness and thus established the Montessori classroom of today.