Language: English

Language: English

Archive: Seattle University, Lemieux Library and McGoldrick Learning Commons, Special Collections

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: The overall aim of this study has been to come to a better understanding of what it means to be a Montessori teacher, by getting a group of Montessori teachers to reflect on their lives and work. Data exploration has comprised journals, interviews, written reflections and collaborative con-textual analysis. Analysis of the teachers? occupational life histories and the findings as a whole have been used to shed light on: ?Values and specific aspects of the philosophy of Montessori edu-cation that primarily attract teachers to this profession. ?Ways in which teachers? conceptions of their professional roles reflect their own personal values, beliefs and convictions. ?Teachers? views regarding the role of Montessori education to-day and in the future. Eight female Montessori primary school teachers participated in the study. Findings reveal that the strengths of the Montessori method lie in its focus on philosophical awareness, the holistic approach and a genuine ethic of care. Montessori?s fundamental educational principles are also in alignment with the current Curriculum for Compulsory Schools (Lpo 94). On the other hand, difficulties are experienced due to conflicting tradi-tional/contemporary interpretations of Montessori theory and practice and a general lack of collaboration among Montessori teachers. Open discussion and a sharing of ideas and experiences would help Montessori teachers come to terms with how to apply fundamental principles in new ways without the fear of losing an educational ?identity?. The Montessori teachers in this study reflect this attitude. Tendencies toward continu-ity/meaningful change in education depend to a great extent on the ways in which teachers are able to critically reflect about how they think and what they do. Taking seriously what teachers have to say is in fact essen-tial in order to understand the forces that, among other things, govern and sway teachers? inner as well as outer motivations, something of relevance and concern to all involved in teaching and educational processes.

Language: English

Published: Malmö, Sweden, 2003

Abstract/Notes: This study examined the written works of Maria Montessori to determine what she considered the foundational theories, principles, and themes of her teaching method. Fifteen themes were identified and condensed into a 26-item Activity Evaluation Checklist (AEC). The study population of 5 parents, 5 administrators, and 5 teachers used the AEC and observed 10 children performing 6 activities designed for the Montessori classroom, resulting in 90 observations. Using scores of 1 to 5 for each of the 26 items, the study results indicated an accuracy correlation between the AEC and the 6 Montessori activities of a minimum of 95%, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of the AEC as a tool to evaluate materials and activities designed for the Montessori classroom. The AEC can be used to determine how closely classroom materials and activities reflect Montessori's original principles. The AEC can also be used as a guide to create or adjust classroom materials and activities so they more accurately reflect Montessori's original principles.

Language: English

Published: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2000

Abstract/Notes: The highlights of Montessori's accomplishments are embodied in her cosmic views and organized into a Cosmic Plan of Education while she worked in the hills of Kodaikanal, India. The fruition of these cosmic views came late in her life and appeared to be synonymous with the development of her relationships with the warm and accepting Indian people. During this periodi Montessori devoted her energies to understanding how children naturally unfold into purposeful, yet interdependent individuals. Through all the professional challenges that Montessori faced in her lifetime as an educator of young children, her focal point continued to be 'the child'. This was especially true in connection with children during their transitional stage of growth from five- to seven-years of age when the acquisition of social, spiritual and cultural values are so strong. Montessori not only shared her methods and ideas with the people of India, but these people, in turn, influenced her views significantly enough to have caused her to formulate The Cosmic Plan of Education. This plan was designed especially for the transitional-age children but incapsulated within it was Montessori's own new-found East-West Cosmology. Through primary sources such as interviews, unpublished books and lectures, the dissertation gives the historical backdrop of the emergence of Montessori's cosmic views in the beginning five chapters. A description of the operation of the Cosmic Plan of Education during its conception is given in Chapter Six. The final chapters deal with how these views weathered the changes within the Indian society over the period of forty years.

Language: English

Published: Manoa, Hawaii, 1984

Abstract/Notes: Did the work of Maria Montessori have an influence on the educational methods used in the infant and elementary school classrooms in England and Wales between 1910, when her work was first publicized in England, and 1933, when the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education published its report on Infant and Nursery Schools? To answer this principal question the following factors are considered: the effect on educational practices of the slow development of government provided education, the characteristics of the British Infant School, the social and political circumstances which were effecting education in 1910, the nature of Montessori's fame, and the official reaction to Maria Montessori and her work. For information concerning the methods actually being used in the classrooms from 1928 to 1933, the primary sources are memoranda submitted during that period to the Consultative Committee on the Primary School and to the Consultative Committee on Infant and Nursery Schools. The documents were analyzed for references to Montessori, for evidence of teachers having attended Montessori training courses, and for descriptions and advocacy of classroom methods which, according to a definition given by the Consultative Committee in its published report, reflect a Montessori influence. Eleven of thirteen Junior School Inspectors, six of thirteen Infant School Inspectors, and eleven of sixteen Heads of Infant Schools, according to the criteria used, advocate Montessori methods for more than half of the curriculum areas which they discuss. This evidence from the memoranda submitted to the Consultative Committees, combined with conclusions drawn from historical evidence, indicate that Maria Montessori did have considerable influence on the schools of England and Wales.

Language: English

Published: Mansfield, Connecticut, 1981

Language: English

Published: New York City, New York, 1971

Abstract/Notes: This study examines processes connected to teacher’s transformation of the Montessori theory and it's described application to a daily practice. The aim is to create knowledge about what constitutes possibilities and limitations for teachers in their daily work with Montessori education. This does not only refer to what constitutes opportunities and limitations in teachers' everyday work with teaching, but also to what constitutes opportunities and limitations for teachers to learn at work. The theoretical framework is based on action theory and theories on adult learning and connects to a tradition called workplace-learning in which learning is considered to take place in, but also between, individuals. This approach indicates that the contextual conditions which the teachers were imbedded in are important to identify. The study was conducted in four different Montessori-environments and involved nine Montessori teachers. The methods used were participant observation, interviews, informal conversations and review of teacher produced material and documents. Possibilities and limitations in teachers work were related to if they had access to Montessori materials or not. In work with Montessori materials teachers identified the children's abilities to a greater extent than they did when other materials were in use. This identification directed their interventions. When the teachers did not have access to Montessori material their method often appeared to be the same as “individual work” with the provided material. Furthermore, interventions of the teacher were then significantly often procedural rather than content-related, although the teachers clearly expressed that they wanted to go into a dialogue with children about the treated subject area. The survey therefore contradicts with the opinion that Montessori-teachers withdraw in favor of Montessori materials that sometimes has been brought up by interpreters of the pedagogy. Rather, teachers stepped back when other materials were in use. The study also shows how a prerequisite for a collective development-oriented learning among the teachers was dependent on whether teachers made their own private understanding of the pedagogy available to each other. At times, however, teachers took the use of the materials for granted. Some of the teachers also deliberately refrained from making their personal understanding available to others due to the fact that they then could be seen as a less competent Montessori-teacher. This maintaining of a “false” collective understanding is seen as an expression of an institutionalization of teaching practice which was maintained by sanctions from the environment if the individual didn´t recognize the institutionalization in question. Since teacher’s “space for action” in this way was limited, the institution created conditions that prevented a possible development of the working methods in use. In those cases when conditions for a collective development-oriented learning were more favorable, it was clear that the teachers did not perceive Montessori education as a given method but rather saw it as a "model" for teaching in which the teachers had to interpret and define their own method from. The teachers thus came to take advantage of a potential “space for action” which was not noticed when the pedagogy was seen as a method.

Language: Swedish

Published: Stockholm, Sweden, 2016

Abstract/Notes: In the first half of the 20th century, Maria Montessori (1870-1952) created a radical approach to early education that she believed had the potential to aid political and socio-cultural transformation on a global scale. This study utilises critical theory and insights from the reconceptualist early childhood education movement to contextualise the background and examine the currency of Montessori’s vision of social justice for the child and subsequent world peace. The research focuses on the reflections of graduates from the Bachelor of Education (Montessori Early Childhood Teaching), a model of teacher education developed at the Auckland University of Technology. The study utilised socio-biographical inquiry and case study as key research tools. Participants were drawn from graduates in their first, second and third year of early childhood teaching practice. The specialty degree aims to highlight the social advocacy role of Maria Montessori with regard to children’s rights and as teachers qualify and enter the field, the project explores differences and similarities that they meet in the interpretation of Montessori philosophy. Information was also sought on the factors that support or challenge the development and resilience of teachers during their first three years of practice in the field. In particular, the study considers the relationship between the philosophy and practice of Montessori teachers in Aotearoa-New Zealand with reference to Montessori’s vision and explores how a teacher preparation model can be authentically reconciled with a social justice perspective. Case studies in four early childhood centres exemplify how a framework derived from Montessori philosophy supports development of the ‘just community’. This research has yielded information on the development of effective practice in early childhood education using the construct of critically engaged pedagogy. Insights arising from the project may therefore contribute to advancing both the literature and practice of Montessori education and especially in the New Zealand teacher education context.

Language: English

Published: Auckland, New Zealand, 2011