Dr Maria Montessori

Dr Maria Montessori (1870-1952) has been one of the most influential pioneers in early childhood education in the 20th Century.  Her ideas have become known and recognised throughout the world and have significantly influenced mainstream education

Her original interest was medicine, not teaching.  She was the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome Medical School and she only became interested in education when she worked as a doctor treating what are known today as children with “special needs”.

Because of her medical background, Dr Montessori approached education not as an educator or a philosopher, but as a scientist.  She used the classroom as her laboratory for observing children and for developing her ideas about the best ways of helping them achieve their full potential.

Dr Montessori put her ideas into practice, retaining and developing those that obviously worked.  So great was her success that she travelled the world, establishing schools and lecturing about her discoveries.  She wrote numerous books and many articles.  She died in Holland in 1952 at the age of 82.

Dr Montessori left the legacy to the world of a method of education which combines a philosophy with a practical approach based on the central ideas of freedom for the child within a carefully planned and structured environment.  She advocated that all children are intrinsically motivated to learn and that they absorb knowledge without effort when provided with the right kind of activities – at the right time of their development.

The Montessori Method is not solely appropriate for the age group for which it is best known, that is, for children from birth to six years of age.  The philosophy and the Montessori teaching apparatus can be used with children up to the age of twelve years and well beyond.