Montessori Inspiration:

Anita LieUnika Widya Mandala

Surabayawww.anitalie.com

Designing the Environment Unlocking the Child Reconstructing the World

Relevance of Montessori in the Indonesian context

Maria Montessori Indonesian context

Born Aug 31, 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy

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Grew up in Italy which was undergoing political, social and cultural transition.

Indonesia is currently in a transition to democracy, economic growth, growing awareness of the importance of education.

medical doctor: pediatrics dan psychiatry

Need for an interdisciplinary approach to addressing children’s issues

Children w/ Different-Abilities: research on early developmental stages

Need for more research on and initiatives for children with different abilities

Maria Montessori Indonesian context

In 1907, the Italian gov’t let her implement her method but in 1922, she was banned by Mussolini.

There’s room for innovation of education practices, especially for pre-K level but bureaucratic constraints may get in the way

Caring for 60 students aged 1-6 from slum areas, Casa dei Bambini

Need for quality education for poor children

Montessori method: preparing the environment and creative exploration by the child. Adult: guide on the side

Tut Wuri Handayani, Ki Hajar DewantaraAchievement syndrome by tiger moms of the middle class in Indonesia

Relevance of Montessori in the Indonesian context

Maria Montessori Indonesian context

“Education as conceived up to today is rich in methods, in social aims and finalities, but it takes hardly into any consideration whatever life itself.”

Getting lost in education practices:

• Teaching to the test. • overloaded curriculum

Non scholae sed vitae discimus Distorted goals of education:• graduation• ranking system• getting a degree and job

Relevance of Montessori in the Indonesian context

The Absorbent Mind1949: Post World War II chaos everywhere and the world needed a new design to reconstruct social structures crushed during the war

1.Ecological Destruction 2.Income Gap (GINI index 0.397/

Mar 2016) www.bps.go.id 3.Change of value system 4.Family Disintegration 5.Liberalization vs Radicalization

Indonesia in the 21st C.:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it

was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the

season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

The best of times

The worst of timesthe age of wisdomthe epoch of beliefthe season of lightthe spring of hope

the age of foolishness

the epoch of incredulity

the season of darknessthe winter of despair

Montessori Method

“the preparation of the [learning] environment”

Montessori’s Basic Principles “Defending the Great Powers

of the Child”1. Urgency to reformulate the goals of

education• focusing on the child

“The consideration of personality, the development of human potentialities must become the centre of education.”

• method integrating lives of the subjects holistically

2. Exploring the biological and psychic dimensions of the child from the early stage

3. Integrating the social dimension in the learning process

4. “It is not the professor who applies psychology to children, it is the children themselves who teach psychology to the professor.”

Centering on the Child

Disposition: “This book is a link in our campaign to defend the great powers of the child.”

This disposition brings a new hope that children will have the powers to reconstruct the broken world.

Education is not transmitting knowledge but considering a child’s whole person

A child is a constructor of man

At the center, education needs to consider the child’s personality and the ways his/her potentialities are developed.Therefore, the early stage of education should provide support to develop the inherent powers of the individual child.A child has an absorbent mind and his/her own internal teacher.

Education to Reconstruct Life: A Critique of Quality Education

Movement Concern: Education with its richness of methods have not really integrated life’s aspects Can the improved school practices and learning processes enable students to reconstruct the broken world?“It is only when we realize the wonderful way in which the child creates the man that we realize, at the same time, that we hold in our hands a secret by which we can help in the formation of a better humanity.” Or does the movement only lead the child to the opposite direction?

Education to Reconstruct Life: A Critique of Quality Education

Movement • Or does the movement only lead the child to the opposite

direction?• Isolating the child from the rest of the society through their

language use, lifestyle, etc• Satisfying tiger moms’ thirst for achievement and power,

and thus alienating the children from their own internal powers

• Loss of mother tongue in preference for English, disenfranchisement from the child’s cultural legacy and root “a breath of the native air, was better than any amount of medicine…..It is something which forms a part of one's own self, of one's own life. ” MM

Hope for Montessori Movement in Indonesia

promoting better method and practices in school building linkages with the government the spirit of sharing (“broadcast to the wider segment of the population,” source: Meet OMI) educating families on best practices in education