We talk to the school teacher who, in 1913, New York’s Carnegie Hall dubbed ‘The Greatest Woman In The World’. A hell of a reputation to live up to.
Doctor, scientist and educator Aka the greatest woman in the world!
The place was Rome, the time 1890.
A young girl from a well-to-do family decided to take up medicine as a career rather than marriage. This decision was to have a tremendous impact on thousands of lives worldwide over the next 100 years.
The girl was Maria Montessori (1870-1952) – physician, feminist, social reformer and educator. Her fight for reform saw her develop into one of the most admired, influential and controversial women of the 20th century. Her method of education was so successful, in 1913 she was introduced to a packed audience at New York’s famed Carnegie Hall as “The Greatest Woman in the World”.
It was an extraordinary accolade for a woman who only six years earlier had opened the first Casa dei Bambini (Children’s House) in San Lorenzo, one of the worst slum districts in Rome. Her first class was 50 children between the ages of two and five. Through Dr Montessori’s observations of these children she discovered their astonishing, almost effortless, ability to learn. Children taught themselves! This simple but profound truth formed the cornerstone of her life-long pursuit of educational reform. The behaviour of this group of aggressive, underprivileged children changed dramatically after a short time working within the Montessori Method. From street urchins running wild they became models of grace and courtesy, eager to learn, curious and enthusiastic about the challenges presented to them.
“Ours was a house for children rather than a real school. We had prepared a place for children, where a diffused culture could be assimilated without any need for direct instruction. Yet the children learned to read and write before they were five and no-one had given them any lessons.”
Maria Montessori – “The Absorbent Mind”
Her first Children’s House received almost instant recognition. Worldwide interest surged as she duplicated her first school in other settings with the same results. Soon there were Montessori schools in America, India, Holland and England; in 1914, just one year after her appearance at Carnegie Hall, her system of early childhood education reached Perth.
The growth of Montessori education in Western Australia had two distinct phases. In the early-1900s interest in the Montessori method of education was evidenced with a review of the “Pedagogica Scientifica” in the Education Circular (1911). By 1914 a training class at Claremont was established, the Maylands Infant School was opened, and by 1929 a Montessori Sacred Heart School was established in Mount Lawley. However, this brief flurry of interest in Montessori education had all but died out by the beginning of World War II.
The opening of The Montessori School in Kingsley in 1962 heralded the second phase of development of Montessori education in this State. This was followed some 10 years later with the opening of The Beehive Montessori School in Cottesloe.
Montessori education here was initially seen primarily as an early childhood option. However, a strong demand for this type of education both before the age of three (in the form of playgroups and ‘birth to three’ sessions) and beyond the age of six, soon led to the expansion into primary, middle and high school classes.
“My experiments conducted in many different countries have now been going for more than 40 years (100 now!) and as the children grew we extended the methods to the later ages and found that individual activity is the one factor that stimulates and produces development and that this is not more true for the little ones than it is for the Junior, Middle and Upper School Children.”
The 1980s witnessed a heightened interest in Montessori education, which led to the opening of many more Montessori schools throughout the metropolitan area and some country centres. There are currently 15 Montessori schools in WA offering a variety of programmes from Children’s House through to Upper Secondary. Several organisations (The Montessori Teachers Association, The Montessori Society of WA and the Montessori World Education Institute) support the ongoing development of the movement in WA.
Today there are more than 22,000 Montessori schools in more than 110 countries worldwide. These schools currently provide education to more than 200,000 children.
January 6, 2007 marked the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first Casa dei Bambini. Events to mark this special occasion are happening all around the world throughout the year and include conferences in America, Holland and Australia as well as numerous parties, picnics and parades.
Here in Perth at Langley Park, on August 31, Maria Montessori’s birthday, WA’s Montessori community will join the worldwide centenary celebration of Montessori education. The day will bring together Montessorians, past and present, to honour Dr Montessori and the wonderful work she began. We anticipate a gathering of some 3,000 people including current students, ex-students, parents, teachers and other members of Montessori associations. As well as a group photo, a centenary banner to sign, and the dedication of a park bench from the Montessori Community to the people of Perth, there will be a range of activities for the adults and children, encouraging hands-on learning just as Dr Montessori would have wanted.
The tribute to this extraordinary woman will continue in November at the Subiaco Arts Centre, with a production of the play The Greatest Woman in the World by WA writer John Bishop. Presented by Agelink Theatre, the play provides a fascinating glimpse into the life of a courageous and brilliant woman who changed the face of education. It traces her early struggles to break through the prejudices of her time and, at the same time, juxtaposes her public successes with her private failures. It provides a moving and inspiring picture of the woman and her work. Agelink Theatre is dedicated to staging plays with great humanity, plays that speak to all, an ambition that Maria Montessori would have supported wholeheartedly.
We look forward to the next hundred years of Montessori Education.
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