{"id":2231,"date":"2026-09-24T10:11:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T10:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entri.app\/explore\/?post_type=curriculum&p=2231"},"modified":"2026-09-24T10:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T10:11:51","slug":"the-philosophy-of-montessori-education","status":"publish","type":"curriculum","link":"https:\/\/entri.app\/explore\/montessori\/the-philosophy-of-montessori-education\/","title":{"rendered":"The Philosophy of Montessori Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Certain Things Essential to Natural Development<\/strong><\/h3>\n

According to Montessori, there were certain things that were very important for a child’s natural development. Together, they form the philosophical foundation the whole method rests on.<\/p>\n

Natural Spirituality<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Montessori saw that children held within them something wonderful \u2014 something so special it could be the key to changing the world. She saw that children were inherently good, and that if allowed to develop freely, they felt connected to everything and were naturally caring toward each other and the world around them. The more she worked with children, the more convinced she became that they had precise inner guides, and that the work of adults was simply to help them become all that they could be.<\/p>\n

Children Thrive on Order and Structure<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Order plays a very important part in the lives of young children. Order consists in recognising the place for each object in relation to its environment, and in remembering where each thing should be. Such awareness is essential for a child to feel secure within their environment and to build on existing experiences \u2014 which is exactly why great emphasis is placed on order within the Montessori classroom.<\/p>\n

Children Move Through Sensitive Periods<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Maria Montessori believed children pass through phases in which, at certain stages of their development, they have a predisposition or sensitivity to learning a specific skill. These stages are called ‘sensitive periods.’ Each period lasts for as long as necessary for the child to accomplish a particular stage in their development. These periods of sensitivity are transitory: once the aim of the period is accomplished, the special sensitivity simply falls away \u2014 it reaches its peak and then fades. Sensitive periods can be thought of as moments of readiness for learning, appearing as an intense interest in repeating certain actions over and over, until a new skill emerges from repetition and is mastered. These sensitive periods manifest themselves through a pattern of behaviour.<\/p>\n

Children Learn Through Their Senses<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Maria Montessori believed that nothing comes into the mind except through the senses. During the years between three and six, as children develop their senses, their attention is directed toward the environment. She believed children loved working with beautiful objects, so all Montessori materials were prepared with the greatest care.<\/p>\n

Children Need Freedom<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Montessori saw freedom as the single most important factor in allowing children to develop as spontaneous, creative individuals. She saw the role of education as providing environments in which children could be set free to follow their natural impulses and become the wonderfully dynamic, natural learners they were designed to be.<\/p>\n

Children Absorb Their Culture<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Montessori’s emphasis on allowing children the freedom to work alone and develop concentration did not mean she underestimated the importance of social development. Instead, she saw that it was precisely because children were allowed to work in such freedom that they could display real love and care toward others. Children literally absorbed the world around them, and true discipline and harmony were things that came from within \u2014 not something that could simply be enforced from outside.<\/p>\n

Big Teachers and Little Teachers<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Montessori called her teachers ‘Directresses,’ because she felt they sensitively guided rather than controlled the children’s activities. She asked that they be more like psychologists than teachers, and considered that success lay in the ongoing nature of the teacher’s own personal development, as well as in the sensitivity of their observations of individual children. Ultimately, she saw their role as not so much to teach the children, but to direct the natural energies she saw emerging in them.<\/p>\n

As she watched children busily going about their work, Montessori realised it was natural and very easy for younger children to learn by watching and listening to older children \u2014 ‘Little Teachers.’ In fact, she saw that children learn best this way, and that something wonderful happened when a community of children could actively support and help each other. Montessori schools therefore encourage children of all ages to work together as a social group, and don’t normally split children by sex or age.<\/p>\n

Children Are Natural Learners<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Montessori saw that children underwent extraordinary transformations in overall happiness, self-confidence, and self-discipline when allowed to follow their innate needs. She saw that a child’s work was fundamentally different from an adult’s: the child worked for the joy of the process rather than for the end result, had a need to repeat activities over and over until an inner need was fulfilled, and was excited and energised by work rather than burdened or fatigued by it. She felt that children only stopped loving learning when they were forced to go against their natural impulses.<\/p>\n

Learning Processes, Not Results<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Montessori schools believe children are at their happiest when busily involved in processes. Children are natural learners who, left to follow their instincts, want to constantly explore the world. For children, it’s easy to enjoy the learning process, because they haven’t been conditioned to value the product over the process \u2014 you can see evidence of this in how many three- or four-year-olds will spend real time creating a piece of artwork, only to forget it at school or toss it aside once it’s finished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Certain Things Essential to Natural Development According to Montessori, there were certain things that were very important for a child’s natural development. Together, they form the philosophical foundation the whole method rests on. Natural Spirituality Montessori saw that children held within them something wonderful \u2014 something so special it could be the key to changing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"curriculum-category":[113,114,146],"custom_linking_tags":[],"class_list":["post-2231","curriculum","type-curriculum","status-publish","hentry","curriculum-category-montessori","curriculum-category-montessori-tutorials","curriculum-category-basics-of-montessori-education"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Philosophy of Montessori Education - Entri Free Materials<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/entri.app\/explore\/montessori\/the-philosophy-of-montessori-education\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Philosophy of Montessori Education - Entri Free Materials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Certain Things Essential to Natural Development According to Montessori, there were certain things that were very important for a child’s natural development. 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