Montessori Education- Human Tendencies

             The Montessori Child

Human Tendencies

What is Montessori? 

Developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian physician in the early 1900’s, the Montessori method of education puts emphasis on independence, viewing children as naturally eager for knowledge, as well as being willingly capable of initiating their own independent learning in a well prepared and supportive learning environment. 

What are Human tendencies in children?  

As we watch a child grow we can notice them wanting to master certain human tendencies. From 0-6 years of age - the first plane of development, we can easily observe children naturally wanting to develop and explore human tendencies. Being able to learn and master certain skills that enable them to be independent, to build on capabilities and feel safe and comfortable in their environment and express deeply rooted desires to survive in the world.

When we look at human tendencies being developed in children there are a few characteristics that are easily identified. These include Universality, as children’s intrinsic motivation to learn can be seen in all children across the globe. The tendencies become permanent, remain present, and are used throughout the lifetime of the individual. Lastly, these human tendencies are dependant upon a child’s context and experiences, making them individualised. 

There are nine human tendencies that Dr. Montessori spoke of that compelled human development, although human tendencies can be seen in many different forms, these particular tendencies are the main focus:

 Self preservation

Self preservation (or self perfection) is seen in children when they repeat a particular skill until they are satisfied they have mastered the skill on their own terms, hence achieving self preservation and moving onto the next developmental skill. 

We can support this in a Montessori classroom with an array of different forms of encouragement: providing space, time and patience with each individual child while they are manipulating a particular material, or manipulating themselves in movement. Alternatively, children who feel confident in working alone have an opportunity to practice until they are completely fulfilled in that action.  

Orientation 

Children thrive on orientation in their environment. This is commonly observed in children’s need to have things set in the same way. This serves the primary need to know where they can access food, water, toilet access, play materials, creative materials or outdoor spaces. This can be supported in a classroom environment by maintaining a certain orientation - such as setting things in their particular places - so children know where to find items and allow easy access to what they need to meet their needs and expectations.

Exploration and Curiosity 

From early years humans have had an inherent desire to explore. We explore to discover new things, learn from our environment and to obtain new knowledge about the world around us.

Children are excellent explorers, and this natural curiosity can be fostered in a classroom environment by allowing each child to explore individually as they wish: manipulating, crafting, and creating with natural materials, exploring the garden outside, and delighting in their deep-seated need for self exploration. 

Order

The natural desire for order goes in hand with orientation and exploration. Once one has explored an environment they also need order to help themselves find their way back by having order in the environment, and in ones routine. Children feel safe in knowing that when the sun goes down they go to bed, and when the sun comes up, they wake in the morning. The order in which we have meal times and eat in the day, where toys and materials are kept, or participating in particle life lessons, are all way that keep their environment in order, and naturalise a sense of safety and comfort through learning order. 

To support this need for order, daily routines can be implemented and broken down into morning, noon and night routines. Safe and organised spaces lay the foundations for a sense of order and routine.

Communication

Through a child’s absorbent mind and yearning for expression, they learn to communicate with other humans. They naturally learn their native tongue, its complexities and nuances, to communicate with others in their particular culture and setting. 

Nurturing this yearning for communication can providing a range of different methods: modelling spoken language and body language; allowing the children to speak and be listened to; and additionally, taking an opportunity to encourage language development through one-on-one interactions. By providing books, writing materials and Montessori letter work, we can start to encourage written language. 

Activity and Work 

A child’s work is just an important to them as an adults work. They work through play and repetition, constantly learning new skills through play. Humans have an essential desire to use their hands as their tools and put them to good use, for instance, a young infant will be completely focuses on using their hands to grasp an object, or food, as this is an essential skill they will use for life. 

Supporting a children’s desire to work should be unified by the importance of developing fine motor skills. Providing them and arrangement of materials to manipulate and construct with, that focuses on fine and gross motor activities, hand-eye coordination, and sensory activities. This environment establishes the opportunity for educators to observe and give each individual child time and space to master their work until they feel accomplished. 

Abstraction and Imagination 

Humans have a tendency to abstract information and store it for later use. This allows our mind to participate in imagination and creating new things. For example, if a child had a deep understanding of the colour blue, they can use their imagination to create abstract designs with a colour. They know how it looks, they can recognise it in the colour of the sky or their blue crayon, they can store that information in their mind for later use in the imagination. They can imagine painting their wooden bird house blue, and then implementing it to create. 

By offering new experience to children we can enhance and help add to their growing abstraction of information and imagination, we are allowing them to imagine, design, create and problem solve. 

Repetition and concentration 

You might often see children repeating a certain action time and time again and becoming very concentrated on mastering it. The child may be in a certain sensitive period of development or experiencing a particular schema that is aiding their growth and development. Therefore you may see an action being repeated and practiced upon for long periods of time, using immersed concentration. 

We again can support this by observing the child and understanding their needs, so we can provide the adequate materials and time they need to repeatedly practice that individual skill. 

Exactness and Precision 

Once a new skill is acquired and practiced, it may lead to a need of exactness and precision in that life skill. By a child’s natural need to want to have exactness on a particular activity - and them wanting to perfect it to self-satisfaction - they can later bring the skill with them to use throughout their life. 

Space and an organised environment allow for the child to practice on their developmental skills. 

Essential development 

It is important that educators provide an environment for the child to express their intrinsic desires. Carers and educators have observed that the essential developmental factors of the child: the absorbent mind, the sensitive periods and the humans tendencies, all work together to help the child grow into a holistic human, and aid them in their development and adaptation to their environment. 

So what more can we do in the classroom to support these human tendencies in all children? Always observe the children in our care to ensure we are meeting their needs for individual development. If we don’t see certain human tendencies, we have to stop and look at what obstacles might be getting in the way. What obstacle can we remove so the children’s natural tendencies can flourish and therefore their self-construction is optimally supported. Those are the things we have to look at and consider when we are observing the children in our care, and ultimately striving to provide the most support we can for their natural development. 

Alexandra Ramsbotham 

Earlier childhood Educator/ Montessori education student / RIE approach advocate