Month: August 2020

“Please put your phone away…”

We laugh about this because we know how real this is, but we need to ask if this is actually a valid method. Steele (2015) discusses how technology (including social media) can really help to enhance learning, whilst Pahomov (2014) argues that technological advancements means that conventional learning (i.e. taking notes from a board) is outdated, and that more time should be spent on apply deeper learning and giving meaning to content.
We need to look at how to make technology our friend, rather than working against it. We need to encourage and model to students how to benefit from technology and use it maturely.

A critical analysis of Montessori Education

Montessori is an educational pedagogy established by Dr Montessori that focuses on nurturing creativity and identifies three planes of development (0-6, 6-12, 12-18) (Casquejo Johnston, 2019, p. 1) with its characteristic learning design trinity approach of Environment, Teacher and Child (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 3)

Benefits of Montessori education include its focus on creativity, its authentic learning characteristics, and its focus on developing cognitive and social skills. Montessori provides opportunities for freedom and flexibility, providing a foundation for students to be creative (Fleming, Culclasure, & Zhang, 2019, p. 2), leading to better problem solving, innovation and improved educational outcomes (Fleming, Culclasure, & Zhang, 2019, p. 1). Studies prove that Montessori students create more quality and quantity of creative work (Fleming, Culclasure, & Zhang, 2019, pp. 2-3, 6-7, 8,11) as well as improving performance in other areas (Fleming, Culclasure, & Zhang, 2019, p. 3), consequently Montessori is beneficial for quality and quantity of student outcomes, as well as creative aspects that feature in Montessori. In addition to creativity, Montessori notes the way children imitate adults, and sees value in allowing learners to select and engage in activities that have real world relevance (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 4; Casquejo Johnston, 2019, p. 2), observing  that development occurs through self-construction (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 25), with research indicating that Montessori students greatly prefer and  benefit in learning activities that mimic real world scenarios (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 4). This is especially true for the third plane (adolescents) who feel more prepared for life after school, with improved self-worth, and increased post high school study (Casquejo Johnston, 2019, p. 4). In addition Dr. Montessori noted the value in allowing students to collaborate and support each other (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 10), and how choice and control in students’ own learning led to greater intrinsic motivation and higher levels of creativity (Fleming, Culclasure, & Zhang, 2019, p. 3). Finally research indicates the Montessori system of education has good social-emotional and cognitive-academic outcomes (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 2), derived from student engagement in classrooms that are beautiful and inviting, with deliberately selected materials and exposure to nature (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, pp. 4,8). The teacher facilitates and personalises the learning, conscious of the needs of students (Casquejo Johnston, 2019, pp. 2, 3). Whilst each student works to the same learning outcomes, they achieve this through personal, scaffolded learning according to their needs to ensure mastery (Casquejo Johnston, 2019, p. 3). Montessori principles allow for greater freedom for students to express themselves creatively and authentically, allowing for real world relativity and catering holistically for learner needs, all of which result in greater learning outcomes.

Unfortunately, there are still issues that need to be considered and addressed: there is a considerable lack of quality assessment and feedback, assumptions about learner development based on social homogeneity, as well as internal and external expectations. Montessori education suggests children are consistently able to correct themselves (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 6); while teachers prepare the environment, introduce new work when appropriate (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 20), and allow students to work unaided, at no point interrupting or correcting (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, pp. 20, 21, 22). In addition, assessment involves recognition and recall (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 22). Current research indicates effective assessment and feedback is key to successful education. When students do not receive this, they may not know how to progress, or be able to adjust their learning, running the risk repeating errors and passing erroneous information to peers.  In addition, recall and recognition do not encourage higher order thinking. Whilst Montessori allows for higher order thinking through opportunities for creativity, it should be noted that questioning and assessing students in these moments would provide better learning opportunities. Secondly, Dr. Montessori argued children learn language from their environment on a similar schedule (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 26). Whilst Montessori organisations have adapted and altered Montessori education to fit situations Dr Montessori had not encountered (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 30) this theory does not fit well in today’s diverse societies. Students may come from a range of language backgrounds, and their awareness and language capabilities in language may be limited, as such, these students are challenged with major setbacks in their learning. Thirdly, teachers are usually faced with 40 plus students in the classroom (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 21), recognised as the authority (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 20) who determines when and what a child is ready to learn (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 22), and create activities that require whatever time will be sufficient for student mastery (Lillard & McHugh, 2019, p. 9). This puts a strenuous amount of pressure on teachers and contradicts a range of the authentic learning characteristics that feature in Montessori education, arguably undermining the autonomy and creativity that Montessori sets out to achieve. Consequently, Montessori students are missing out on valuable insight and potential from the lack of feedback and are restrained by teacher controlled education. Also, acknowledging the importance of personalisation and differentiation, traditional Montessori does not recognise the diverse range of language skills and needs in today’s students.

References

Casquejo Johnston, L. M. (2019). Montessori Middle School: The Erdkinder. Middle Grades Review, 5(3), 1-7.

Fleming, D. J., Culclasure, B., & Zhang, D. (2019). The Montessori Model Creativity. Journal of Montessori Research, 5(2), 1-14.

Lillard, A. A., & McHugh, V. (2019). Authentic Montessori: The Dottoressa’s View at the End of Her Life Part I: The Environment. Journal of Montessori Research, 5(1), 1-18.

Lillard, A. S., & McHugh, V. (2019). Authentic Montessori: The Dottoress’a View at the End of her Life Part II: The Teacher and the Child. Jornal of Montessori Research, 5(1), 19-34.