Woman of the Week: Maria Montessori

by Emma Bartley

Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator, well-known for her educational method that builds on the way children learn naturally.

Maria was born on August 31, 1870, in Chiaravalle, Italy. Her mother was raised in a family that valued education. Maria Montessori was well-schooled and an avid reader, which was very unusual for Italian women of the time.

At age 13, Maria entered an all-boys technical institute to prepare for a career in engineering. However, she changed her mind, deciding to become a doctor instead. She applied to the University of Rome but was rejected. After taking additional courses, she was granted admittance, becoming the first woman to enter medical school in Italy. When she graduated from medical school in 1896, she was among Italy’s first female physicians.

“If education is protection to life, you will realize that it is necessary that education accompany life during its whole course.”

In her early medical career, Maria focused on psychiatry. She also became interested in education. Her studies led her to observe and call into question the current methods of teaching children with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Maria Montessori was appointed co-director of a new training institute for special education teachers. Maria had the perfect opportunity to improve the teaching methods of developmentally disabled children.

Maria approached the task scientifically with observations and experiments to see which teaching methods worked best. Many of the children flourished, and the program was proclaimed a success.

Maria opened the first Montessori school, the Casa dei Bambini (Children’s House), in Rome on January 6, 1907. She was placed in charge of 60 students from the slums, ranging from one to six years old. At first, the kids were very misbehaved, but they soon showed great interest in working with puzzles, learning to prepare meals, and manipulating materials that held lessons in math. She observed how they absorbed knowledge from their surroundings, essentially teaching themselves.

“Now, what really makes a teacher is love for the human child; for it is love that transforms the social duty of the educator into the higher consciousness of a mission.”

After establishing her school, she traveled the world and wrote about her approach to education. She lectured and developed a program to prepare teachers in the Montessori Method. Montessori education was quickly adopted worldwide.

While traveling, Maria also campaigned on behalf of women’s rights. She was recognized in Italy and beyond as a leading feminist voice.

“The consciousness of knowing how to make oneself useful, how to help mankind in many ways, fills the soul with noble confidence, almost religious dignity.”

Maria was traveling in India in 1940 when hostilities between Italy and Great Britain broke out. Maria was forced to live in exile for the remainder of the war. However, she still took advantage of her situation and took the opportunity to train teachers in her method. During the war, she also earned two Nobel Peace Prize nominations.

Maria returned to Europe at the end of the war and died peacefully in a friend’s garden on May 6, 1952. There are now more than 22,000 Montessori schools in at least 110 countries around the world.