By Andy Lulka, December 2020 My favourite aspect of education is the expansion of perspectives, and my favourite element of Montessori professional development is supporting adults in shifting paradigms around education and childhood. Curating the Montessori Everywhere Challenge Pavilion with Barbara Isaacs, whose work in this area I have long admired, was a dream come … Continue reading Community

By Annamaria Guild & Antonella Cirillo "Stories are not to be treated lightly as they both carry and inspire significant obligations and responsibilities: stories must be cared for as they are at the heart of how we make meaning of our experience of the world."Huber et al. 2016: 214, in Carr and Lee, 2019:1 Stories … Continue reading Learning Stories

Re-watching the panel discussion focusing on ‘The Child’ from the Montessori Everywhere day of celebrations,  I was  inspired by the global perspectives and the challenging questions posed by KimAnh Nguyen Anderson to the panellists:  Trisha Moquino (New Mexico),  Dr Laura Flores Shaw (USA) and Gabriel Salomao (Brazil). The well informed, thoughtful and respectful responses provoked … Continue reading The Child

I was at work on the day I was invited to write this blog and a quick lunchtime glance at my inbox plunged me abruptly into a, ‘where to start’ crisis prompting a knee-jerk reaction to turn to the nearest child and ask their thoughts about differences between work and play. This is what Kayla … Continue reading Reflecting on the Value of Solid Observations of Play

Chapter 5 of The Child, Society and the World, our book club reading for this week (register here), addresses the question of Child and Society.  It comprises two double lectures given in London in 1946 and those given at the University of Chenai/Madras in 1940.  The chapter closes with her 1951 Rome lecture entitled Schooling … Continue reading Child and Society

The new document Much discussion has taken place about the new Early Years Foundation Stage and the proposed changes. In this blog, I hope to focus on the significant details regarding this statutory document, which you need to know as you begin to prepare to review it and include it in your practice and documentation … Continue reading Where are we with the new EYFS?

One of the benefits of technology is that great thinkers enter our world with much more of their personality; one gets familiar with their voice, their ways of speaking and a greater sense of who they are. Well, that, in the case of Sir Ken Robinson was such a great gift! And who won’t miss … Continue reading The Invitation to a Meaningful Life

Australia is alight. Brazil is burning. Indonesia ignites. The cinders of California swirl around tech giants and people on their knees smouldering with defiance. The world is on fire. During these ‘unprecedented times’, we are frequently reminded of the need to ‘build back better’, improve our ‘resilience’, and overcome our ‘vulnerabilities’. However, perhaps now more … Continue reading The World is on Fire

(Montessori, 1989:69) As always the Bookclub reading has stimulated new ways of thinking. Montessori’s lecture given in India in 1942 entitled “Montessori's ‘Alternative Comprehensive School’: On the Principles of the Montessori School” and published in The Child, Society and the World affords us a glimpse at her thinking on what Montessori  schools have to offer … Continue reading “There is nothing which makes you learn more than teaching someone else, especially when you don’t know the subject very well”

In a recent interview between Tammy Oesting and Dr Philip Gang for the P2P Summit, Gang reflects that the essence of Montessori is “not about getting children ready for tests, it isn’t about ‘have I done the pink tower three times’ … it isn’t about memorising…” Instead, he suggests that “if Montessori is done in … Continue reading Have faith in the child