Montessori pupils 'are being given a better start in life'

The Times September 29, 2006: Excerpts

Test-free system 'gives children a better start in life'
By Alexandra Frean

Pupils who learn at their own pace in Montessori schools may have an advantage over those in traditional classrooms

CHILDREN who attend Montessori schools, at which tests are banned and pupils of different ages are taught together and allowed to learn at their own pace, develop better social and academic skills than those at conventional schools, according to research.

By the age of 5, children at Montessori schools are better at basic word recognition and mathematics, and are more likely to play co-operatively with other children. By the age of 12, they are more creative and better able to resolve social problems, a US study suggests.

The findings, published in the journal Science, are likely to fuel the debate over the use of tests and the highly structured learning system in British primary schools, which is dominated by a compulsory literacy hour and daily maths lessons. They also raise fundamental questions about the purpose of education.

Angeline Lillard, Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, and lead author of the study, said: "A Montessori education sets children up better for adult life and gives them a better quality of life for the moment too, because they don't have the anxieties associated with testing."

Among the five-year-olds [in the study], Montessori students not only performed significantly better in maths and English, but were also better able to see the world through others' eyes and performed better on "executive function", which is the ability to adapt to changing and complex problems.

Professor Lillard, who originally trained as a Montessori teacher, said that the findings could be explained by the Montessori children's superior understanding of social interaction. "In traditional schools we do things the opposite of the way children develop. They are told to learn alone and to be quiet. In Montessori schools the children can socialise as much as they want, and there is a lot more social interaction. The environment is not competitive, as there are no grades and testing," she said.

Linda Madden, principal of the Rainbow Montessori School in North London, said that the Montessori method focused on laying down the proper foundations for learning at every stage before children moved on to the next step.

"We do not teach children to count in an abstract way before they understand dimension and quantity. With writing, we don't teach letters until they have the pincer muscles to hold a pencil properly. We are very thorough - every step is based on the step before," she said.

SIX CORE AREAS OF LEARNING

Maria Montessori was the first woman doctor in Italy in 1896

In 1906 she founded the Children's House school for supposedly "unteachable" poor children in one of Rome's worst slums

Most British Montessori education is at nursery level; there are a few primaries

There is only one state-funded Montessori school in Britain, the 350-pupil Gorton Mount Primary in Manchester

Dr Montessori believed that children's early years, from birth to six, are the period when they have the greatest capacity to learn and the greatest appetite for knowledge

During this time children are particularly receptive to certain stimuli. Dr Montessori developed her own teaching aids and activities to take advantage of this

Montessori education focuses on six core areas of learning: practical life, sensorial, language mathematics, cultural and creative activities

..........The research was originally published in the American journal Science.