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This system of education is both a philosophy of child development and a rationale for guiding such growth. It is based on the child's developmental needs for freedom within limits, as well as, a carefully  prepared  environment which guarantees exposure to materials and experiences.  Through this, the child develops intelligence as well as physical and psychological abilities.  It is designed to take full advantage of the child's desire to learn and their unique ability to develop their own capabilities. The child needs adults to expose him to the possibilities of his life, but the child must determine his response to those possibilities.

There are four basic principles within the Montessori Method.

1)  The absorbent mind
2) The sensitive periods
3) The prepared environment
4) The attitude of the adult

   
This describes the different stages of growth when the child is intensely attracted to a specific part of his/her environment.  These sensitivities help the child develop normally and acquire the characteristics necessary for his/her development into an adult.  An example of a sensitive period is the child's remarkable ability to learn the human language in one and half of three short years.
This is Dr. Montessori's name for age periods when the child demonstrates unusual capabilities in acquiring particular skills.  She observed that the sensitive period for acquiring a sense of order is from about age two and one half to three.  The sensitive age for writing is somewhere between the age three and one half and four. The period for sensitivity to words leading to reading and numbers is age four to five.  The sensitive periods for the individual child vary and are approximate, but all pass, never to return.  In the average school, according to Dr. Montessori, the basic skills are taught largely after their sensitive periods have passed.
   
In order for self directed learning to take place, the whole learning environment - classroom, materials, and social setting / atmosphere - must be supportive of the child. The prepared environment is an environment that has been carefully organized for the child, to help him learn and grow.  It is an environment where she moves freely and chooses her own occupants, where she may accomplish independence and discipline.  The environment is prepared in such a way that it meets the social, emotional, intellectual, physical and moral needs of a child.  It is also an environment which satisfies the child's need for order and security, in the knowledge that everything has its proper place, where it can be found time after time.
   

It is an artificial environment (as are all environments) prepared by the teacher or the directress, as Dr. Montessori preferred to call the adult in charge.  She arranges the furniture, adapted to the children's size.  She arranges the learning material on the shelves and shows the children, individually and in small groups, how to use them.  She sees that the room is attractive and inviting (with easy access to out -of-doors when weather permits).  She sets up rules by which the children relate to one another and then stays in the background; observing, helping, and guiding the child to new materials as he becomes interested or as she thinks he is ready for them, interfering with relationships among the children only as is absolutely necessary.

   

Montessori teachers are frequently referred to as directresses because it is a better summing up of what they do - they direct the child towards learning opportunities rather than teach.

The Montessori teacher functions as a designer of the environment, resource person, role model, demonstrator, record-keeper and meticulous observer of each child's behavior and growth. The teacher facilitates learning.   Extensive training is required for a full Montessori credential, including a minimum of college degree and a year's student teaching under supervision - is specialized for the age group with which a teacher will work, i.e. infant and toddler, pre-primary, or elementary level.
   
Within the prepared environment children are free to choose their own materials and activities, to change activities, to sit at tables or to kneel or sprawl on mats, to move about the room as they wish, to work alone, to work with others- Free, so long as their safety is not involved and so long as they respect the rights of others.  "The child must be free", said Dr. Montessori, "if there is to be any discipline, since the only real discipline is self discipline - self control.  The child must be free in order to be truly a master of himself- to be truly independent.  He must be free in order to make his decisions and discoveries - in order to learn by himself (which is the only way anyone really learns."

 
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