Did Maria Montessori successfully implement inclusion?

Question

If yes, is that the reason why she was able to create inclusive schools? If no, please give me your reasons.

Answer 1

Montessori's method's are child centered and therefor good for the individual child. But it doesn't implement inclusion. for inclusion, a group of children would learn on one object at the same time, no matter which level of development.

Answer 2

Lysa always nails it on the head and this is the hard part about being a teacher that you will run into.  (Not sure if that's why you are asking).  But teachers are constantly faced with the struggle of helping their children learn vs. getting them ready for testing.  It's something that the good teachers are getting so tired of that they're leaving all together.  But before I go off on a tangent, let me answer your question.

From my own personal experience, we had 3 children with Down Syndrome in my classroom when I went to a Montessori school growing up.  One thing I think sticks out a lot is how we thought of them as friends.  They were in the classroom with us.  They worked with us.  They played with us.  They weren't in the "stupid class" at all.  We knew they had trouble learning and that they were different from us somehow, but the difference was embrased - not laughed at or shunned.  Those students learned a lot.  And I probably learned more by having them in the class with us.

To the many Montessori teachers, there is no question about inclusion.  Everyone learns differently, at different rates, and should be inspired to take that to the farthest of their ability.  I no longer teach Montessori - I'm in Asia teaching English at a Cram school (actually the name of it...and there is a reason they call it that).  It is hard for me to teach like this because it really is a matter of trying to keep the class on par with each other.  If I could teach English in a Montessori classroom, it would be about students learning English no matter where they were in the process.  I could have a 6 year old that is nearly fluent and a 3 year old who is on their first day of English class and they would both continue to grow, but they'd also love doing it as well.

*sigh*  Ah...to dream.

Matt

Answer 3

On a simple level, I would say yes.

Montessori's method started at the child and the way the individual child approached learning.  This method would work for any child.  Other methods start from what needs to be achieved, from the teaching approach.  These are not inclusive.

Answer 4

That depends on what your definition of “successful” is.

If we are just looking for a situation where a child can learn to the best of their ability without any time constraints, then the answer is yes. A child, any child with any learning needs, could theoretically learn in a true Montessori environment.  But theory and practice come to a face to face battle when we talk about the federal expectations in 2007 during the No Child Left Behind years. When learning disabled children are expected to perform at the same rate as non-learning disabled children, putting them in a classroom were they can work on a certain concept for weeks or months frightens people. They are sure that the child will not learn as much as deemed necessary(probably correct), will then score low, and the whole school will be penalized. Horrific isn't it? Instead of making sure that the child is learning in the best way possible for them, we are upset that he is not learning as fast as some policy maker has deemed acceptable.

As a Montessorian, do I believe a true Montessori education is the best thing for them?  Yes.  I believe that once they master a certain concept often the next one will be easer to master since they already have a foundation to build on. (This is not true for all LD students, but it is for many.) I also believe that the Montessori philosophy of teaching concepts in different modalities is also exceptionally beneficial for the LD student.  Since concepts can be taught in so many different ways, there is a good chance that they will be able to learn a concept in a Montessori classroom that they could never have learned in a traditional classroom.

Yet, like I said before, Montessori philosophy only works if you accept the fact that people are different and each child will not master the same concept at the exact same day and time. If you either believe, or are forced to attempted to make all children including those with learning disabilities, learn the exact same thing on the exact same day, then the Montessori Method is not going to work and the child is going to have to go, at least part of the day to outside classes. Not that this actually works either.  We know this as a fact since across the country learning disabled children are one of the two subgroups that are not making the NCLB goals NO MATTER how many special classes they are placed in. But because the way the guidelines work, if the children are sent to a special teacher for part of the day, even if they end up scoring lower on the standardized test in the long run, the school is penalized less.

What? You’ve got to be kidding you say. Sadly, No, I am not. You see, each year we have to make progress.  If we don’t then we are penalized.  Part of the process of being penalized is that you have to show all of the different things that you are doing to help the low scoring children.  Now in year 1 lets say that 80% percent of your LD children do not pass the test and their test score average is the 35th percentile. If you just leave them in the Montessori classroom and the next year 80% of the children still do not pass the test, your school is penalized further even if they are now scoring in the 40th percentile.  You are penalized further since you did not take extra steps to raise the percentage of your students who were failing.  Now, lets say that instead of keeping them in the Montessori environment, you put them in special classes throughout the day.  At the end of the year you still have 80% not passing and their average score is in the 33rd percentile.  You will be penalized, but not as much as in the first scenario because according to the way the NCLB laws are written, you have taken efforts to help the children in the second scenario, where in the first you have not.

Insane, I know. Believe me.  I live this everyday.

So, did Maria Montessori fully implement inclusion? Yes.  Was it successful? Yes, if you define successful as “each child learning to the best of their ability”.  No if you define successful as “all children passing the same test on the same day.