Our education concept is based on the principles discovered and set out by Maria Montessori and on the questions that we have to ask ourselves, such as: Who is the child? What are its needs? How does it learn? What are the educational conditions to be fulfilled for it to learn and what are the consequences of this?
Upon birth, the child embarks on a period of life which is no longer that of a physical embryo; instead it experiences a post-natal period as a “formative period which entails the child becoming a “spiritual embryo”.
Autonomy is a basic need for a child: “Help me to do things alone”. The child wants to do things by himself or herself, and must be able to have real life experiences, rather than just pretending with toys.
The child needs to have freedom of movement: co-ordination of movements and repetitions enabling the child to develop strength, intelligence, self-confidence, motivation, perseverance and psychomotricity. The child must not remain seated at a table all morning
Freedom of choice, of movement, and in terms of time. This is how the child’s individuality is forged. And freedom should not be confused with a hands-off approach because, in our educational approach, freedom forms the other side of the coin along with discipline. “Freedom and self-discipline” go hand in hand.
Through research and observations, Maria Montessori discovered:
That a child learns thanks to its absorbing mind: what is involved is a moment in its development period during which learning occurs unconsciously and effortlessly. The child is like a sponge swelling in water: the child learns through its environment.
That a child learns during its sensitive periods. Each sensitive period enables the child to build what characterises the human being: spoken language, movements, intelligence, social behaviour, etc.
That the child’s learning involved the senses, forming the child’s contact points with its environment, thereby enabling the child to concretely understand abstract concepts.
The child requires an “ambiance”: what is involved is a physical and psychological location within which the child makes determining steps in his or her development. It is a framework that fulfils certain criteria, a stage for experimentation with relations with others, objects, oneself and freedom. It must be suited to the child being, and be set out, ordered and aesthetically pleasing. It must be possible to mix age groups there: a Montessori principle with cognitive and social goals.
And “the new teacher”: a humble observer and a patient guide, who understands the stakes involved in sensitive periods and the absorbing mind. The teacher offers resources that are suited to each child, maintains a good, calm, well-ordered ambiance, and accepts not being the group’s centre of interest. The teacher does not impose a pace, or any programme, and leaves the child free and active within the terms of the child’s development.
The concentration that enables work and self-education in a learning process depending on the sensitive period.
And normalisation, which is the state of a child in good psychological health, experiencing harmonious self-development, with stable behaviour in relation to others and his or her work.
Corinne, who is a nursery school teacher by training, is an unconditional devotee of the Montessori educational approach. Having herself been a teacher, her accuracy and her concern for detail make her a rigorous trainer yet she also listens to the difficulties staff have out in the field. Her sense of observation and her softly-softly approach to educational matters make her a benchmark for the educational teams.
« The children of today are the adults of tomorrow. » – Maria Montessori