Montessori’s manifesto
What do we have that is different? Humanity and quality
Humanity
The person at the centre
Open relationship with students
A really educational relationship, which wants to achieve the actual formation and transformation of the student, cannot be founded on fear and terror, nor can it be closed and go one way. The educational relationship is, in fact, a human relationship, an encounter between two people who have to live a common experience together, capable of causing a change and which, therefore, needs that the channel between the parts is always open. To be open does not mean to be on the same level, but it means to see a subject in the student to dialogue with and create together a meaningful path.
Every moment can be educational
To educate is no just teaching and transmitting knowledge, but it also and foremost regards the whole education of the student, involving the most various aspects of their personality: ability to express and to organise themselves, to manage their own time, to relate with peers and adults, to solve and mediate conflicts, to take initiative. The class is a privileged space, but not the only one where this skills can be developed, this is the reason why also conversations during recess, breaks, outings, field trips and many other occasions are equally precious educational moments.
Emotional educational
Understanding one’s own feelings and emotions and knowing how to handle them, are fundamental skills for every human being, which are mostly achieved during childhood and adolescence. The school environment, thanks to the diversity and richness in human situations in which it involves students, is a privileged space where this emotional maturity can be encouraged. For this reason, teachers not only value situations that promote in the student the ability to relate to others and to oneself in a healthy way, but are also open to listen and to dialogue when the single student wishes for it.
A positive environments
Education intended like this can only be the result of the effort of an entire environment, which wants to be educational in a deep sense. Such an environment, for this objective, must be necessarily funded on a constructive relationship between teachers and students, but also between teachers and parents, among students themselves and among teachers and all the school staff. A positive environment is that where, despite conflicts and difficulties that can come up, one is able to find a meaning in everything they do and a sense in their being there, reason why they always wish to come back again the next day: at school they fell good.
Quality
Doing less, but better
Deep knowledge, not encyclopedic
A long-lasting acquisition of knowledge postulates that with it an important and not superficial relationship is built. To give up on notionism, cutting out what is unnecessary, allows to dedicate more time together with students to deepen topics that involve them and stimulate their passion and curiosity. With this aim, teachers propose different activities, among which reading programme, debate moments, academic outings, group projects, seminars, writing workshops, production of a school newspaper and whatever can enrich the student’s educational itinerary.
Reflecting on big themes and problems
The division of Knowledge into different subjects is only approximate, not actually binding; on the contrary, real and authentic knowledge proceeds through big problems and cruxes, which often overcome the boarders of single disciplines, finding new thought synthesis and posing new problems to restart from. In order to make students develop this multifaceted knowledge single teachers not only enrich their own lessons by treating themes belonging to other subjects, but also propose interdiscilinary paths and activities together with other colleagues.
Knowledge not only studied but also experienced
The full and long-lasting achievement of knowledge happens when what is learnt is perceived as pertaining to life and meaningful for the existence. With this objective, teachers identify paths and activities that will bring to light the real value of what they are teaching, so as to make students recognise their own questions and desire for knowledge in the big human questions. Therefore, Literature is learned preferably through directly reading the authors, Philosophy is learned through debating one’s own ideas, and so is Art, always when possible, by looking at works in real life, Chemistry by creating reactions, Physics and Biology by observing phenomena and nature, English by reading, listening and having conversations with the native speaker teacher in school.
