Dr. Maria Montessori & How the Montessori Method Began

Maria Montessori was born in Ancona, Italy in 1870.  When she was twelve, the family moved to Rome.  At the age of thirteen, against the wishes of her father but with the support of her mother, she began to attend a boys' technical school.  After seven years of engineering, she applied to medical school at the University of Rome. 

In 1896, Dr. Montessori became the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome Medical School.  She then joined the staff of the University in the Psychiatric Clinic, where she worked with mentally deficient children in the insane asylums of Rome.  Dr. Montessori became convinced that these children could profit from special education.  She started by using ideas and didactic materials of earlier educators, such as Itard and Seguin.  Then, she elaborated on these materials and developed new ones based on her observations, notes and intensive work.  To her amazement, these children started learning many things that had seemed impossible. The results she obtained with these children were so astonishing, that she had them tested with “normal” children of the same ages. The special needs children came out ahead.  The results left Dr. Montessori convinced that similar methods applied to children of average intelligence would also obtain dramatic results.

Dr. Montessori returned to the University of Rome to study philosophy, psychology and anthropology. She also served on the staff of the Women's Training College in Rome.  In 1904, she was made a professor of anthropology at the University of Rome.  Her desire to help children was so strong; however, that in 1906 she decided to dedicate herself totally to the study of education and human development. 

In 1907, Dr. Montessori was asked to take over a daycare centre in San Lorenzo, one of the poorest quarters of Rome.  She saw this as her first real opportunity to put her ideas into effect with “normal” children.  It was there that she founded the first Casa dei Bambini (Children's House), which consisted of approximately sixty children between the ages of three and six years, all of whom were poor and underprivileged, with illiterate parents.  In less than a year, these children had become self-assured, self-motivated, responsible individuals.  They had also begun to read and write spontaneously, which caught the public eye.  These children became known throughout the world as Dr. Montessori’s “miracle children”.  The news of this unprecedented success soon spread around the world.  Dr. Montessori began a life of world travel, establishing schools and teacher training centers, lecturing and writing.  

In Rome, Dr. Montessori developed a program for the elementary years, for children from 6 to 12 years-old. Working within a mixed-age group, using specifically designed materials, and being allowed to explore and research, led the children to achieve a much higher level than was previously thought possible for children of this age.

In 1922, Dr. Montessori was appointed Government Inspector of Schools in Italy.  In 1929, Dr, Montessori founded The Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) to ensure that the integrity of her work would be maintained and that it would be perpetuated after her death.  Dr. Montessori began to be increasingly exploited by the Fascist regime and in 1931, she was forced into exile from Italy because of her antifascist views.  She lived in Spain, India and in the Netherlands, which is now the headquarters of the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI).

In the 1940's, inspired by the amazing potential of children realized in the early years, Dr. Montessori stated that age three was too late to begin to support the work and development of the child.  Thus, in 1947, she began an infancy program.

Dr. Montessori was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times—in 1949, 1950, and 1951.  She died in Noordwijk aan Zee, Holland, in 1952, but not without leaving a legacy we can embrace to this day.  Since Dr. Montessori’s death, an interest in her Method of Education has continued to spread throughout the world.  Her message was always to turn one's attention to the child, to "follow the child". It is because of this basic tenet, and the guidelines left by her, that Dr. Montessori's ideas will always be on the leading-edge in education.