Montessori education is the outcome of the Montessori Method, created by Dr. Maria Montessori. And the best part? The Montessori Method is simple.

Dr. Montessori posited that the best way to educate children was to support their natural development, rather than pursuing specific outcomes for learning. Secondly, in the pursuit of supporting the child’s natural development, Dr. Montessori knew that children learn most from the experiences in their environment (rather than from direct instruction). Dr. Montessori re-positioned the role of the adult to a “guide” instead of a “teacher” for this purpose. Dr. Montessori’s methods were revolutionary in 1907 and it is still revolutionary today. In this simple process, we:

1. Aim to understand the development that the child is trying to do;

2. Prepare an environment of experiences for the child to do that development;

3. Use Observation as our guide to see the development unfold; and

4. Adjust any of the previous three as the child grows.

In Dr. Montessori’s aim to accomplish this revolutionary approach to education, she saw two essential outcomes of this developmentally-centered method. The first was the oppressive nature and practices of conventional education. Dr. Montessori aimed to remove all oppressive practices in the structure of schooling that were preventing children from developing as they were trying to.

“The child’s training has, [teachers] think, to be guided by two reins: prizes and punishments. But if a child has to be rewarded or punished, it means he lacks the capacity to guide himself; so this has to be supplied by the teacher. But supposing he sets himself to work; then the addition of prizes and punishments is superfluous; they only offend the freedom of his spirit. Hence, in schools like ours which are dedicated to the defence of spontaneity and which aim at setting the children free, prizes and punishments obviously have no place.” - Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind

The second was her discovery that when children are allowed to develop as they are trying to, they become peaceful with themselves and the world around them. This was a remarkable discovery and inspired her life’s work in education as a tool for peace. The intersection of The Montessori Method and Anti-Bias / Anti-Racist work must be applied to fully see our vision of collective liberation.

As a trained and experienced Montessori educator and Anti-Bias / Anti-Racist practitioner, Mariana uses The Montessori Method to guide both parents and educators in implementing this amazing, non-punitive method of education for the purpose of achieving liberation for the child, our communities, and the world. Every bit counts in the struggle toward collective liberation and Maria Montessori’s contributions have empowered Mariana and many others to work toward freedom for all so that we may truly see peace.