Montessori Education

Abstract

This chapter is a compressed presentation of Maria Montessori’s life, about her pedagogy and its theoretical basis, and how the Montessori Method developed and gained geographic spread over more than 100 years. One aim has been to put in Montessori and her activities in a context in order to understand how her thinking evolved. Another aim has been to lay a theoretical perspective on the issues primarily associated with the Montessori Method – the prepared environment and the didactic material. These two key aspects are related to the role of the Montessori teacher and Montessori’s idea of the conditions for children’s learning and development. A third aim has been to discuss, with a critical but respectful approach, what parts of the Montessori Method has survived and what ought to survive in the twenty-first century in a society where we talk about gender/equality, multiculturalism and sustainable development. In short, it was an intention to raise the question how it is possible, in the light of the history to utilize basic ideas in the spirit of Montessori’s pedagogy and at the same time develop teaching and learning to suit the child and society a number of decades to come.