After more than a century, the “Montessori method” is more and more appreciated by Italian families and teachers.
There are now almost 300 schools with Montessori departments in Italy: the children’s and primary schools are “regular classes”, while the lower secondary level is initially only experimental classes.
The vitality and topicality of the method can certainly be found in the great cultural and educational prestige of Maria Montessori, who is undoubtedly the most famous Italian scientist in the world.
We owe her birth “Scientific Pedagogy” that is, a pedagogy understood not so much as a philosophical reflection on educational problems, but rather as a science based on scientific methods of investigation (observation, data analysis, comparative studies, etc.) and also the results of research in other fields (medicine, neuropsychiatry , experimental psychology, but also sociology and anthropology).
In 1907 the first “children’s schools” were founded in Rome, while in 1924 the National Opera was founded, initially with the favor of the fascist government (Benito Mussolini was even its honorary president).
However, conflicts with the regime began almost immediately and went so far that the government ordered the opera schools to be closed. In 1934 the conflicts became so incurable that Maria Montessori had to leave Italy, where she only returned in 1947.
From that year the schools inspired by his method resumed their operations; In 1951 he moved to friends in a small town in Holland, where he died the following year, but his method was now known around the world.
Over the decades, Montessori schools have sprung up everywhere, not only in important countries like Germany, the United States of America and Russia, but also in Mongolia, Kazakhstan and New Zealand.
Also, because many Montessori schools are private, we do not have an exact count, but we know from the latest available data that there are more than 3,000 Montessori schools in the United States today, of which at least 500 are public.
Our magazine – in collaboration with Indire – decided to dedicate three videos to this topic.
In this first interview we speak to the President of the Opera, Professor Benedetto Scoppola; In the next video we hear from the voice of a primary school teacher how a lesson with the Montessori method works.
In the third and final interview we will talk to Professor Milena Piscozzo, director of the IC Riccardo Massa in Milan, who coordinates a national network of schools experimenting with the method also in lower secondary schools.