ReachFURTHERMontessori education for theover fives – learning for lifeand living to learn

MONTESSORIS TN I C H O L A S�

Why Montessori for over fives?The value of Montessori education for young children has been recognised for over a century inthe United Kingdom. It is increasingly being recognised as equipping older children for thechallenges of the 21st century by promoting free thinking, self motivation and independentlearning across the curriculum as well as providing a sound basis for learning in literacy andnumeracy. Montessori schools achieve this balance between high levels of achievement and theconfidence to be independent learners by enabling children to follow their natural development.

What makes the Montessori approach different, and what makes it work so well, is that it isbased on a deep understanding of the way children learn – through choosing, trying and doingthings for themselves. This is achieved in part by developing a close relationship between yourchild, the teacher and the school environment. This relationship constantly evolves and developsbecause it is based on close observation of children. The observations are linked to the use ofspecially developed materials in an environment prepared for your child’s current needs. Whencoupled with the close observation and guidance of a Montessori-trained teacher, this promotes aconsistent approach to learning which enables your child to progress at their own pace ratherthan at a pace determined by other children’s capacity to learn. Initially physical manipulation toexplore equipment and other materials will be used to develop your child’s learning. This willgradually give way to developing the use of abstract thought, reasoning and learning.

‘You can always tell a Montessorichild because they’ll say “Mummy,can I touch that – can I smell that?”They are used to learning aboutthings by experiencing them’.Sarah Rowledge, teacher

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In a Montessori primary school, the children nolonger just choose what to work with, as theydid in their Montessori nursery. They areempowered to manage a weekly plan withactivities both of which they negotiate withtheir teacher. They are given weekly tasks inliteracy, numeracy and the sciences. Each childcan choose when to complete their tasks, andwhen these are completed, the child hasanother tutorial discussion with their teacherto plan more work. As in the nursery, this giveseach child the opportunity to manage theiractivities, but as they grow older themanagement of time and tasks becomes morecomplex and embraces all curricular activitiesand subjects.

These approaches to learning and teaching are

developed from Montessori’s view of theprimary phase as having three key sensitiveperiods: imagination, growing moralawareness and socialisation as part of a team.

Many Montessori primary schools seesignificant benefits when children worktogether in mixed or ‘vertical’ age groups, suchas where 6 to 9 year olds work together or 9 to11 year olds work together. The combinationof individual weekly plans with the exampleand support of other age groups ensures thatlearning continues at a good pace. Howeverwhere state schools have adopted Montessoripractices, they tend to work with single agegroups. This is also the case in someindependent Montessori schools and dependson the number of children in each age group;.

How will my child benefit if they stay in aMontessori school after the age of four orfive?

The benefits can be summed up as:

� Education based on making the most ofyour child’s individual capabilities;

� The ability to embrace challenges withcuriosity and enthusiasm;

� Your child will develop the capacity tomanage their learning by formulating theirown weekly work plan and complete this,following their unique pattern and rhythmof work;

� A curriculum which fully meets therequirements of the National Curriculumand which goes well beyond this in manysubjects;

� Opportunities to apply and developmathematical and literacy skills in thecontext of projects which your child selectsand researches in science, culture (historyand geography), the arts, informationtechnology and other areas;

� An education which maximises the use ofthe classroom environment as well asdrawing on outings and learning in thecommunity;

� Continuity and development of learningexperiences and approaches, following onfrom the nursery classes;

� No need to get used to different routines,different adults and different environments;

� Being part of a small team of children

working together and sharing ideas;

� No attempt to work to an externallydetermined curriculum which is not basedon your child’s needs;

� No testing. Continuous observations toevaluate your child’s progress, seekingfurther challenges to encourage new skillsand knowledge;

� The knowledge that children educated inMontessori schools achieve at least as welland often better than children in otherschools by the ages of 7 and 11, not onlyacademically, but also socially.

Maria Montessori described the child over theage of three as having a growing ability toorganise information, experiences and ideas.

At the same time the child’s awareness ofsocial aspects of life are also refined. Manyprimary schools tell us that children fromMontessori nurseries settle well into theprimary school’s routines, that they likelearning and have high levels of concentrationand social skills. But their parents tell us thatthe children can become bored if their existingreading, writing and numeracy skills are notacknowledged by their new teachers and theirsocial skills not appropriately extended – whathad been a joy in learning and gathering newknowledge can become constrained by thepre-determined demands of the NationalCurriculum.

In a Montessori primary school, the ideas ofMaria Montessori remain in place and thisimportant stage of childhood development isacknowledged. The school provides your childwith a calm approach to learning based ontheir keenness to learn and their eagerness tobelong to a group. Your child will developthrough periods when moral development isextended and knowledge and skills are gainedthrough a wide range of experiences. Thesewill include literacy, numeracy, the naturalsciences, music, history and geography as wellas physical development. The teachers willcontinue to use their skilled observations ofyour child’s progress to provide supportiveteaching in an environment which is well-matched to their needs and which providesexciting and appropriate challenges forlearning and practical work.

So what is so special about the Montessori classroom?There are five main elements which distinguish it from other classrooms:

� Equipment is accessible to your child and always available to your child;

� Your child has freedom of movement indoors and out as well as a choice of what to dofor much of the day;

� Your child will have personal responsibility for their work: this requires an awareness ofthe needs of others, avoiding dangerous or hurtful actions, keeping the equipment andresources tidy – putting things away after using them – and, drawing on the adults’ andolder children’s role models, developing a true social awareness;

� Learning from reality and the natural environment: far too much learning in the 21stcentury can be too abstract at an early age. This flies in the face of experience whichclearly shows that practical experiences using equipment or real objects (such as shells,flowers, tree bark and stones) benefit your child’s learning far more;

� Beauty and harmony: this aspect is too often ignored by those who focus too much onthe content of learning. Montessori felt strongly that the environment must be pleasingaesthetically to encourage learning and concentration. Too many displays can distractchildren if they are not properly related to their interests. It reflects the manner in whichthe Montessori classroom is calm and activities are self-directed.

As your child moves through the Reception Year into Years One and Two, you will find thatthe teachers continue to ensure that the classroom has a hum of activity, not silent, but notloud or chaotic, with children working in small groups, or with a friend or individually.There will be a clear progression in the work provided for your child. They will beencouraged to gain all the knowledge and skills which the National Curriculum seeks todevelop, but with major additions – concentration, the use of initiative and enquiry, andconfidence to investigate and develop their initiative. These skills underpin learning anddevelopment in all areas.

BenefitsThe Montessori approach allows children to learn throughunderstanding, rather than through being told. From thisunderstanding your child is able to develop confidence and a joy inlearning.

By understanding how children learn the teachers can provide yourchild with tools and opportunities tailored to the way they experiencethe world around them. At the same time there is a strong physicaldimension to many Montessori activities, encouraging dexterity,balance and appreciation of shapes, colours and sizes.

What all these elements have in common is that they are providing thebuilding blocks of future learning, hardwiring your child’s capacity toengage with new material and information and providing the toolswith which to manipulate it.

Learning the Montessori way is, literally, learning for life.

Fast facts� The Government’s Early Years Foundation Stage has acknowledged that Montessori’s

approach is at the core of its view of the way children learn – however far too few schoolsfollow this, and do not follow the coherent approach which Montessori has developed tosupport your child’s learning.

� Some state schools have adopted Montessori’s approach, working with the St Nicholascharity. The early outcomes show a major rise in attainment by the end of Key Stage 1.

� Many of Maria Montessori’s observations and innovations - ideas such as personalisedlearning and specifically designed practical equipment – are now commonplace inmainstream classrooms.

� Phonics – the approach to teaching reading and writing that focuses on the sounds ofletters and syllables - is now advocated as one of the best methods for developing literacy.Montessori schools have been using phonics and achieving remarkable results with it forover 100 years.

� Discipline, and in particular self-discipline, is central to the Montessori approach. Children ina Montessori school enjoy significant freedom of choice within the prepared environment,both indoors and out. However the focus on learning ensures that freedom of choice ismatched with responsibility to learn and respect for others.

� Only your Montessori primary school will ensure that your child’s excellent start atpreschool will be sustained into the primary years – the approach to learning anddevelopment will remain the same, the challenges will be well matched to your child’scapabilities and achievement will be maximised.

� Montessori schools can apply to be accredited by the Montessori Evaluation andAccreditation Board, supported by the Montessori St Nicholas charity. This accreditation,which is made by peer review involving other Montessori practitioners, ensures that theschool follows the Montessori approach and is committed to continuing to do so, includingstaff development and training.

� Montessori education is practised world wide and is recognised as one of the mostsuccessful ways of ensuring that children not only learn but also gain social skillsappropriate to the needs of the 21st century. Many Montessori schools in the UnitedKingdom have links with other Montessori schools abroad. Such contacts provide thechildren with an awareness of life beyond their own immediate environment and culture.

“The skills that each child learns at hisor her own pace, protected from ahigh-pressure scheme of officialjudgement, are skills for life. Inparticular I would single out an abilityto concentrate, to persevere, to breaktasks down into logical steps, tocomplete work, and to understand theunderlying principles involved in everycase.” Dr Timothy Taylor, University ofBradford, writing of his children’sexperiences at WharfedaleMontessori School, Yorkshire

“My daughter loves coming to school,which is my main priority. She seems tobe making fantastic progress with herschool work, but for me the mostimportant thing she has gained is aquiet confidence in herself and herability to do any given task .... She istreated very much as an individual andI feel that the staff have a lovelyrelationship with her.” (source: Parent, LincolnshireMontessori)

Montessori primary schoolsMontessori focuses on the individual child,allowing them to develop at their own pace. Itoffers a broader curriculum than that which isoffered by state schools. We find that someparents need reassurance that Montessori-educated children are making ‘satisfactoryprogress’ relative to children in other types ofschool. All Montessori schools are assessed tothe same national standards as other schoolsand they commonly match and often farexceed the standards required across allfronts.

The Montessori St Nicholas charity hasestablished a scheme to accredit Montessorischools to ensure that they provide a trulyMontessori approach. In the past, some schoolshave sought to use the name ‘Montessori’ toprovide a cachet for their work, even though itis not truly Montessorian. Your child’s schoolmay be accredited by the MontessoriEvaluation and Accreditation Board (MEAB),or is seeking that accreditation. Parents shouldvisit their child’s potential school to make surethat it meets their expectations for their child’seducation.

Maria Montessori Maria Montessori pioneered an approach to education that focuses on children’s innatedesire to learn and their enormous capacity to do so when provided with the rightenvironment and the appropriate materials under the guidance of a watchful, caringteacher. Born in 1870, she was the first woman to qualify as a medical doctor in Italy andit is her scientific background that underlies the design of the Montessori materials –many of which show quite remarkable insight into children’s learning patterns - and herbelief in the importance of observation. Her work beginning with supposedlyunteachable children and the poor in Rome, and later across the world supported bypsychologists and educationalists has left a powerful legacy that has touched the lives ofcountless children – and the adults around them.

“The greatest sign ofsuccess for a teacher is to beable to say, “the childrenare now working as if Ididn’t exist”.’Maria Montessori

Children Reach their potential

Inside the Montessori classroomDeveloped from Barbara Isaacs ‘Bringing the Montessori approach to your early years practice’ – using quotes

During this time the children will engage in avariety of activities, and when allowed towork without interruption from an adult-imposed timetable, your child will have timeto reveal their natural tendencies to learn andconcentrate and their sensitive periods. Aftercoming in at the start of the day, your childwill get themselves ready and say goodbye toyou or their carer. They select their own pieceof work – for some it will be something thatwas started yesterday, for others it will alwaysbe the same thing – a painting, a puzzle, abook or a writing task. That pattern maycontinue for a week, perhaps two or even amonth before it changes, reflecting yourchild’s growing interests. Whatever it is, theactivity will help your child settle into the day.

After a while, your child will choose otheractivities, each following the same pattern ofmaking a conscious choice, taking the activityto a particular place, working with it andthen putting it away carefully. This cycle ofactivity is then repeated with otherequipment and materials during themorning. Some activities will involve workingalone, others with varying groups of children– as one of a pair, in a small group or a largergroup. Some will involve close concentration,others will allow time to wander before ‘re-tuning’ to more concentrated work – periodsof what Montessori termed ‘false fatigue’whilst you child looks for a new activity whichwill meet their individual needs. This patternof the ‘curve of work’ where concentratedactivity is interspersed with times of searchingfor new work requires careful observation bythe teachers. The aim is to ensure that yourchild can be focussed and settled so that thelonger the periods of engagement withactivities become, and the shorter the falsefatigue is. This is at the core of Montessoriclassroom practice as the aim is to use yourchild’s interest and engagement in activitiesto promote their concentration withoutunnecessary interruption from adultdirections. In this way your child’s self-controldevelops and they become aware of otherchildren’s needs and views.

Our aim is to enable your child to developself-discipline through experience of the richenvironment, the compassion, generosity,trust and respect of the teacher, so that theycan develop their own personality within thebenefits of being part of a social group.

During the work cycle, many activities willrelate to subjects of the National Curriculum,although they will not appear as such to yourchild. Literacy, numeracy, science, history,geography and other subjects will feature inthe activities which the teachers provide forthe children. Skilled observation and carefulguidance by the adults will ensure that over aperiod of time your child experiences the fullrange of subjects, using gentle promptingand well-timed suggestions to encouragethem to benefit from activities. At timesoutside the work cycle other subjects may beintroduced as whole class activities, such asmusic, a foreign language or walks in theschool grounds or beyond.

As your child grows older, the activities willfocus more on developing and using literacyand numeracy as the teachers plan work toextend your child’s knowledge and skills inthese areas. It remains important for theteachers to ensure that your child’sconcentration and self control continue to beat the core of activities, so that self-motivation ensures that learning is at its mosteffective. To do this, staff have to be able toprovide materials which are carefullystructured to promote a step by stepunderstanding of complex abstract conceptsthrough the use of concrete examples,building on previous experiences such as thephysical shape of letters, through to thestructure of the decimal system. Fundamentalto the whole learning process is theencouragement of your child to take a part inreplenishing supplies, correcting their ownmistakes, cleaning up after themselves andmaintaining the ordered classroom that is thefoundation of the Montessori approach.

‘Montessori observed children in the classroom working on their own and in small groups, some being quick and others takingtime to repeat an activity several times, each following their own rhythm’. Good Montessori practice has different age groupsin the classroom, especially in the Foundation Stage and in Years One and Two, making a formal timetable inappropriate as itwould disturb the natural rhythms of the children’s activities. ‘The span of the morning, usually a three hour period, is whatMontessori termed the work cycle’.

The Montessori philosophy

� The Montessori approach starts from a number of fundamental beliefs – that allchildren are unique individuals, that they all have immense potential, that theywant to learn and be busy – and that, whilst they may want to be like adults, theydo not learn or experience life in the same way as adults do.

� Children are capable of much more than we usually believe. It is generally adultstrying to impose their schedules, expectations and ambitions – all born out of thebest intentions – on or of children which lead to disharmony, dissatisfaction,irritability and poor behaviour, both in the classroom and at home. Montessorigives children the freedom to make choices and to pursue them withoutinterruption. It encourages them to respect the choices of those around them, andto take pleasure in their own accomplishments. Ultimately children come tounderstand that nothing anyone says about what they do is as important as whatthey themselves feel.

� The child’s early years – from birth to six – are the period when he or she has thegreatest capacity to learn and the greatest appetite for knowledge. It is what we,as adults, do during these critical years that lays the foundations for all their futurelearning, for their sense of themselves, their confidence, self esteem, respect andinterest in the people and world around them – truly education for life. When yourchild attends a Montessori school beyond the age of five, they will have thisapproach reinforced and developed further. Their developing mind enables themto learn in an increasingly abstract manner. Results in state schools which havebegun to introduce the Montessori approach clearly demonstrate that children’sattainment is raised, social problems are reduced and that the children bothbehave and learn more effectively. For children who have attended Montessorinurseries before going into classes in Key Stages One and Two, the benefits of theirearly experiences not only continue, but are extended through challenging workmatched to their individual capabilities and interests.

� Montessori teachers seek to guide rather than control. They are not there toimpart knowledge but to provide opportunities to learn and an environment inwhich this is most easily achieved. Learning is invited rather than imposed,encouraged rather than enforced. Equally, the emphasis is on giving the child theopportunity to progress at their own speed, rather than driving towards rapidadvance, early achievement or any other externally fixed goals. Free from tests,benchmarks and competitive pressures children tend to excel, driven by their ownthirst for knowledge.

� Montessori addresses a range of learning and experience that is far broader thanany state-prescribed curriculum. History and ecology are two aspects which aredeveloped at a higher level than in the National Curriculum. Carefully structuredactivities in these areas, often using specially developed Montessori equipment,make it easier for the child to learn, providing them with a broad platform of skillsand knowledge that will support their future learning.

� Montessori education emphasises that self-discipline is intrinsic with high levels ofmotivation to learn. For a Montessori child achievement provides its own rewardsfor learning. These qualities of self-discipline and motivation provide anoutstanding basis for secondary education – learning for life and living to learn.

Disclaimer: This publication is a general introduction toMontessori and is not intended to be a comprehensive guide.

Acknowledgements: Produced on behalf of MontessoriSchools Association by the Montessori St Nicholas Charity.Thank you to Brighton & Hove Montessori School, LincolnshireMontessori, Soaring High Montessori Primary School, St HelensMontessori School, The Gower School, and Nadia Nasser fortheir contributions.

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