Following calls to 'bewilder' (Snaza 2013) the pioneers of early education, this article positions Montessori pedagogy as a 'desire path' that acts as resistance to normative policy-driven pathways ...in early childhood education and care. Desire paths are alternative tracks made aside from officially established walking routes. In this paper I think with the metaphor of pathways and desire paths positioning an educator's choice to practice Montessori pedagogy as an approach which wanders outside of mainstream qualifications and education. To do this, I take fragments of a professional life story that chart the agentic nature of choosing Montessori pedagogy as a way to problematise how walking that desire line challenges, and defies normative pathways. I also propose a re-reading of Montessori's pedagogy, not as pioneering but as nomadic, and suggest that social desire paths enable Montessori education to be viewed as multiple, situated, alternative tracks to prescribed pathways.
Performance monitoring (PM) is central to learning and decision making. It allows individuals to swiftly detect deviations between actions and intentions, such as response errors, and adapt behavior ...accordingly. Previous research showed that in adult participants, error monitoring is associated with two distinct and robust behavioral effects. First, a systematic slowing down of reaction time speed is typically observed following error commission, which is known as post‐error slowing (PES). Second, response errors have been reported to be automatically evaluated as negative events in adults. However, it remains unclear whether (1) children process response errors as adults do (PES), (2) they also evaluate them as negative events, and (3) their responses vary according to the pedagogy experienced. To address these questions, we adapted a simple decision‐making task previously validated in adults to measure PES as well as the affective processing of response errors. We recruited 8‐ to 12‐year‐old children enrolled in traditional (N = 56) or Montessori (N = 45) schools, and compared them to adults (N = 46) on the exact same task. Results showed that children processed correct actions as positive events, and that adults processed errors as negative events. By contrast, PES was similarly observed in all groups. Moreover, the former effect was observed in traditional schoolchildren, but not in Montessori schoolchildren. These findings suggest that unlike PES, which likely reflects an age‐invariant attention orienting toward response errors, their affective processing depends on both age and pedagogy.
Children process correct actions as positive events, and adults process errors as negative events. Moreover, the former effect was observed in traditionally‐schooled children, but not in Montessori‐schooled children. These findings suggest that response errors' affective processing depends on both age and pedagogy experienced at school.
Resumen Este artículo aborda desde un enfoque cualitativo las concepciones que tienen profesores y profesoras que ejercen en escuelas Montessori y Waldorf-Steiner, presentes en el contexto educativo ...chileno. El objetivo es examinar las identidades docentes de quienes ejercen en este tipo de establecimientos para comprender la manera en que ellos (as) interpretan, asumen y se definen su labor en contextos singulares de enseñanza. Se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a seis docentes chilenos, las que fueron transcritas y analizadas mediante técnicas de la Teoría fundamentada, posteriormente fueron sometidas a discusión con los mismos participantes. Las categorías emergentes destacan que, a pesar de una alta normatividad pedagógica Montessori y Waldorf-Steiner, los docentes reconocen una autonomía docente movilizadora y describen contextos profesionales habilitantes que también contribuyen en la construcción activa de su autoimagen profesional. A su vez, estos se identifican como profesionales en ruptura con el sistema tradicional y parte de una comunidad pequeña y limitada. En consecuencia, se plantea la hipótesis de una identidad profesional desde una democracia del aprendizaje en las diversas dimensiones de la labor docente. Se sugiere como perspectiva ahondar en las configuraciones identitarias de docentes de escuelas diferentes, así como cuestionar su papel en el debate educativo más allá de sus fronteras pedagógicas.
Abstract This article is a qualitative research about the perspective of teachers working in Montessori and Waldorf-Steiner schools, in the Chilean educational context. The objective is to analyze the teacher identity specifically in the types of school, in order to understand the way they interpret, assume and define their work in unique teaching contexts. Semistructured interviews were conducted with six Chilean teachers, which were transcribed and analyzed using Grounded Theory techniques, and then discussed with the participants themselves. The emerging categories highlight that, despite a high Montessori and Waldorf- Steiner pedagogical normativity, teachers recognize a motivating teaching autonomy and describe enabling professional contexts that also contribute to the active construction of their professional self-image. At the same time, they identify themselves as professionals in disruption with the traditional system and part of a small and limited community. Consequently, the hypothesis of a professional identity based on a democracy of learning in the various dimensions of educational work is raised. We suggest delving into the identity arrangements of teachers in different schools, as well as questioning their role in the educational debate beyond their pedagogical boundaries.
The paper aims at recalling Maria Montessori’s essential assumptionsabout the child development and organization of the educationalprocess as a basic issue considering the concept of science ...education.In the Montessori pedagogy, it is characterized by the form of theso-called Cosmic Education. Cosmic Education is a unique approachto work with children aged 6 to 12. Thus, the idea of Cosmic Education,the relationship between the child’s needs and the science educationcurriculum is elucidated. The essence of the Great and Key Lessonsas centers of children’s exploration and research is discussed. TheMontessorian way of learning about fundamental human needs ispresented as an inspiration for school practice. The basis for collectingempirical material is the analysis of the content aiming at the currentachievements within the selected topic characterization.
A framework law on preschool education in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2007 requires all preschool institutions to apply and practice inclusion as well as the compulsory preschool education in a year ...before children start school. The same law emphasizes that children with developmental disabilities should be included in preschool institutions according to programs adapted to their individual needs. Namely, the goal of applying inclusion in kindergartens is directed towards giving every child the opportunity to progress following their abilities. In that sense, to realize inclusion it is necessary to provide important preassumptions such as curriculum, methods of work, didactic tools, professionally educated team, and permanent assistants in individual assistance. Children with developmental difficulties deal with additional discrimination because most preschool institutions do not have the above-mentioned preassumptions for work and they are often excluded from the educational process. To find the solution to this problem, the focus of this paper is aimed at choosing a curriculum that will enable each child with an equal opportunity in life. In this context, a group of experts who completed the Montessori specialization have created the Integrated Preschool Adaptive Curriculum (IPAC) that is intended for inclusive kindergarten groups. The basis for its development was the contextual and dynamic assessment of abilities, knowledge, and skills of children who attended kindergarten a year earlier and worked according to the methodology of Montessori teaching and techniques. In this paper, we intend to present the results of a three-year study that was based on examining the impact of the Integrated Preschool Adaptive Curriculum (IPAC) on children's readiness to go to school. Readiness in this context considers reaching a certain degree of maturity in cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical development as well as in specific abilities in the cultural, hygienic, and work habits domain.
Education faces barriers all over the world, which sometimes makes it difficult to look after children’s rights and their individual development. Hence, society is clamoring for new practices, and ...different approaches are emerging, Montessori among them. Despite the fact that this approach was developed to attend to the poor strata, nowadays it is basically promoted by elitist sectors, though it can be perfectly applied as an education system for all children, regardless of their socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. This study analyzes the bases of Montessori pedagogy in a school from a low-to-middle-income country (LMIC), Burkina Faso, and another school in a high-income country (HIC), Spain. The study takes into account children, family, school environment and teacher training all of which contribute to children’s development.
This paper aims at investigating the pedagogy of the AUA Pre-school English program from the perspective of Montessori Method. To reach the aim of the study the convergences and divergences between ...the Montessori and foreign language pedagogies were investigated in terms of teacher and student roles, materials and environment, sensory development and language use by both the teachers and learners. The mixed methods type of research was chosen for the study, where the qualitative analysis was done through classroom observation checklists and interviews with the program teacher, and the quantitative analysis was done with audio-video recordings. The findings of the research showed that the implementation of the Montessori Pedagogy in the “AUA Pre-school” English program is quite possible as the convergences outweighed the divergences.
Navedena se tema nastojala približiti učenicima kroz interdisciplinarni pristup, uz korištenje različitih nastavnih metoda rada te socijalnih oblika učenja. Glavni cilj provedenih aktivnosti bio je ...određena znanja iz biologije čovjeka (Živčani sustav u ulozi prijenosa informacija) primijeniti u praksi na način da učenici 3. razreda gimnazije bolje razumiju temu, promatranjem i istraživanjem odnosa djece predškolske dobi prema posebno izrađenom materijalu za samostalno učenje. Učenici su izradili materijal temeljen na principu Montessori pedagogije te ga koristili u radu s djecom vrtićke dobi. Učenici su kroz rad i aktivnosti bili maksimalno angažirani te su uz pomoć posebno izrađenih hospitacijskih listova došli do zaključka da sklonost prema određenim materijalima ovisi o dobi djece. Navedena aktivnost omogućava učenicima bolji uvid u proces odrastanje čovjeka te im daje mogućnost da promatranjem i vlastitim aktivnostima poput izrade materijala i praćenja dođu do osnovnih spoznaja o razvoju djece.
U ovom radu daje se uvid u osnovne postulate Montessori pedagogije i definicije
suvremene obrazovne neuroznanosti, orijentirajući se prema potrebama i rješenjima
za suvremene didaktičke pristupe. ...Prikazom rezultata suvremenih istraživanja rad
povezuje dostignuća Montessori pedagoških metoda i strategija sa znanstvenim
pokazateljima obrazovne neuroznanosti o načinima pozitivnoga utjecaja na razvoj
pojedinca. Rezultati istraživanja obrazovne neuroznanosti potkrijepit će postulate
Montessori pedagogije da je za odgojni pristup važno razumijevanje razvojnih faza
odrastanja, individualnosti kompetencija i specifičnosti odgajanika. Specifičnim
primjerima naglasit će se da je uz kognitivne, bitno razvijati psihomotorne i
afektivne kompetencije, odnosno da je razvoj ovih sfera ličnosti povezan i
međuovisan. Ponuđenom pedagoškom perspektivom rad ukazuje na potrebu
daljnjega razmatranja kako pristupiti oblikovanju optimalnih kurikula. U radu se
sugerira da je upravo zbog različitih društvenih i tehnoloških promjena potrebno
razmišljati o pedagoškim metodama, strategijama i pristupima Montessori
pedagogije, što podržava i potkrepljuje suvremena obrazovna neuroznanost.
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