Education for life. This is what María Montessori called her teaching vision. She understood that it was not necessary to educate, but to accompany human development, identify the potential of each being and elevate them to their maximum expression. All this from desire, from the body in movement, accompanying the natural development of evolution and in this way incorporating necessary tools to fend for itself at each stage of development.
Innate motivation to learn
Montessori observed that all children have an innate motivation to learn. In reality, we cannot prevent them from doing so. We understand that “learning”, in a simple definition, It is a process through which a relatively permanent change in behavior occurs in the individual.
Maria Montessori’s approach and ideas (formulated over 150 years ago) have not only stood the test of time, but have also much of what she discovered then –through keen observation and intuition– has now been supported by recent research.
It is important to keep in mind that learning in people begins from birth and that the fundamental processes by which children learn are established from a very early moment in life.
Learn naturally
Children learn through play, exploration, experiencing things in the world around them. This spontaneous play/exploration is initiated in response to their developmental needs.
For example, when they come into contact with water, they seek to touch, feel, manipulate, they identify the temperature, they identify that it can be in one container and pass to another, that water is wet, that they can find it in many spaces of the home and daily life…
All children learn through active participationapplying themselves in a practical way and trying to do something for themselves, especially using their hands.
The Montessori approach: childhood as an entity
Montessori identified what she considered to be normal in all children; “the universal characteristics of childhood”regardless of where they were born or how they were educated. Therefore, he invited adults to adopt a new approach to childhood since they would treat the time of childhood as an entity in itself, and not simply as a preparation for adulthood.
«Education is not what the teacher imparts, but a natural process that develops spontaneously in the human individual; education is not acquired by listening to words, it is by virtue of experiences carried out in the environment. The function of the teacher is not to speak, but to prepare and arrange a series of reasons for cultural activities in the special environment…» «The absorbing mind», M. Montessori, p. 6.
Why opt for the Montessori method
At the moment traditional education It is rich in methods, intentions and social purposes, but It cannot be said that it always takes life itself into consideration.
Among the many official methods of education, Almost none of them consider providing assistance to the individual from birth and protecting their development. Education, as it is conceived today, It often dispenses with biological and social life at the same time.
Education should no longer be based on a pre-established program, but on knowledge of human life.
When we talk about the possibility of thinking about a school looking at life, we can begin to think about what relationships are like, encounters and if we share and develop tools that allow the child and the teacher new ways to establish links, with others, with objects, with the environment, with learning.
Generally we are so conditioned by a school history, by a family education received, by a way of being in life that, on some occasions, we have not had the time to think, feel or observe if that is what we want, or not, for ourselves. This lack of gaze –and the daily routine, the obligations, the fears…– they make us gradually distance ourselves from ourselveswithout giving ourselves room to review and connect with what we feel or what we want to be.
When we choose to accompany childhoods –as mothers, fathers, caregivers, teachers or professionals–we choose one of the most noble and “delicate” jobs.