Montessori was a product of the historical past and inherited the intellectual and progressive tradition in education from Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Frobel.
From these inspirations Montessori took this inheritance of ideas and developed them further. During her lifetime she discovered and formulated original ideas about child development through her observation of the child. Montessori developed a teaching system that aided life unfolding. Montessori believed that education is no longer the imparting of knowledge but that guide the child in his self – construction and development.
The Montessori programme facilitates this self – construction so that the child become an effective cosmic agent”(1) Many of Montessori views today are in close agreement with cognitive psychological theory as to how children develop. Montessori based her educational system on her theory that the child from birth to maturity moves through the four stages in his development. Each plane sees the completion of a distinct stage, with a different kind of person emerging at the end of each, with different needs. This development is a series of rebirths.
Montessori defined the four stages as planes of development giving each plane a different name, Model – Kinder, Age of Serenity, Erdre – Kinder and Age of Happiness. Each plane lasts six years. It is obvious that the child passes through sequential stages of growth, physically and psychological before reaching maturity. Each of the planes of development follows the other, and none can be omitted. A child at the beginning of any plane is insecure in himself.
The individual in each stage needs to interact with his environment.The child needs new material and freedom in the prepared environment, to manipulate, explore and work with the material. In each of the planes the human tendencies guide the child, focusing him on different elements that are operate to the plane of development. Each plane contributes a new dimension to the human personality. "This first period, taken as a whole, makes a complete life in itself.
”(2) The first plane of development is a creative period. It is a formative period where great changes both physical and psychological occur.The construction of the human personality and traits occur in the first plane. A special prepared environment is needed to aid the child in his development. The environment needs to be a rich environment, which supports the development of the child in the first plane.
A prepared environment includes the people in the environment and the material in it. The child has completed his adaptation to his culture by the age of 6 years. Dr Montessori believed that the first plane of life is the most important.Montessori described the growth of the mind from birth to three was very similar to the growth of the physical body before birth. She called this “psychic embryo”.
The first plane is a “period of transformation” with is divided into two, the unconscious and the conscious. The child from birth to three absorbs impressions from the environment without awareness of the process. Gradually through movement and manipulation of the environment the child constructs an understanding of it. The child passes through sensitive periods and learns more easily at those specific periods.
The child is completely dependent on the adult. At approx. three years the memory of the infant is fully formed and the child gradually becomes conscious. The child has developed adequately to depend on himself. The child has a strong desire to master his environment. The child in this plane manipulates the environment, following his will.
Language continues to develop and the child has an insatiable thirst for words. The child of the second period is in consolidation, having constructed himself in the first plane as an individual he must now consolidate himself.It is a “period of uniform growth, an intermediate period. ” The social environment is every important to the child. This is a period of stability.
Montessori said that a visitor from another planet seeing a child from the second plane of development would think that they were observing an adult. The child is now a member of a community and likes to do for himself. Creative energy in the child runs high. He is stronger and healthier than the child of the first plane. The child has an inner order, which isn’t manifested through his external order.
The child of this plane has a clear sense of mankind. He has a thirst for factual knowledge. He has a keen interest in many areas. Social interests are strong and he has an awareness of right and wrong. He has a reasoning mind and is no longer a sensorial explorer. The third period like the first is a period of great change,” a period of transformation”.
The child goes through a period of rapid bodily changes and therefore needs care and understanding. Montessori compares puberty with the unconscious period of the first plane.There are psychological changes occurring in the child as he prepares to become an adult. Montessori felt the child shouldn’t be subjected to too much academic pressure and should get plenty of rest.
The second half of this plane is a period of consolidation of interests. There is a bringing together of all previous learning and the young adult is able to think/deal with abstractions. It is a time when social and moral responsibilities are a prime concern. In the first three planes if there is optimal development maturity will come in the final plane.
The adult is now mature, independent, confident and assured. He has chosen a career in which he will direct his studies towards. The adult in this plane is a full citizen, taking on full responsibility for himself. He has an awareness of an interdependence, which makes society work. Montessori based all her work on the observation of the child and how the child develops. She developed an educational programme that was child centred.
She saw in the infant and young child an unfolding of life and procession of development.Development that is a continuous process from birth to maturity. The human potential is then realised. Montessori believed that the teacher’s role as an educator was not the imparting of knowledge but rather of guiding and directing the child in his own unique development. Montessori’s called her approach to education finality. This approach depends on the use of the environment for human potential.
The children can be “influenced by an education seeking to protect them, cultivate them, and assist their development”. (3)The prepared environment, which is rich in materials, will support development leading to the final result, which Montessori called the normalisation of the species. Given the prepared environment the child will reach finality and mature as the true nature of the human being. Therefore society as a whole and the adults need to recognise and study the four planes of development so that society as a whole can meet the needs of every individual child. Society needs to recognise that education isn’t the imparting of knowledge so that he child grows larger and older.
The theory of the four planes is based upon life itself. The four planes are formed on life itself. The adult must recognise the natural laws of development and education will become away of giving aid to life unfolding so that a full manifestation of life may develop. “The secret of good teaching is to regard the child’s intelligence as a fertile field in which seeds may be sown, to grow under the heat of flaming imagination. Our aim therefore is not merely to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorise, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his inmost core.
”(4)
