Who was Maria Montessori? Biography of this educator and pedagogue

Maria Montessori is known for having created the pedagogical model that we know as the "Montessori Method".. However, her biography is much more extensive. She was also one of the first women to obtain a medical degree in Italy and was involved as an activist in defense of the rights of women and children.

Likewise, Maria Montessori specialized in areas such as biology, philosophy and psychology, which allowed the creation of knowledge and interventions on the child development which remain in force to this day.

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Maria Montessori: biography of this doctor and activist

Maria Montessori was born in Chiaravalle, province of Ancona, in Italy, on August 31, 1870. She was the only daughter of a military father descended from the Bologna nobility who had fought for the independence of Italy; and of a liberal, Catholic and intellectual mother whose family developed in the world of philosophy, science and research.

It is not surprising that the rest of her biography developed as it did: at just 12 years old, María Montessori and Her family moved to the city of Rome, with the intention of ensuring that she would study in the best schools in the city. epoch.

While there, she showed an interest and special ability in mathematics, so despite her father's wishes to Before she became a teacher, she Maria Montessori enrolled in a technical engineering school where only men.

A year later, her concern for studying medicine arose, with which she decided to abandon engineering and start new studies at the age of 22, even in the face of her refusal and the initial rejection of her director, her father and her colleagues, who considered that a medical career was a specialty that could only be practiced by men.

Finally, in 1896, at the age of 26, Maria Montessori became one of Italy's first female doctorsher, the same year that she was elected as representative of Italian women at the Feminist Congress held in Berlin, where she defended the equal rights of women.

At the same time, she denounced the situation experienced by children who work in mines in Sicily, with which she joined the fight against child labor exploitation. Some time later and motivated by a conscience of social justice, she began working in psychiatric clinics. and schools where mainly boys and girls with intellectual disabilities attended in very difficult conditions. precarious At the same time, Maria Montessori had continued to study biology, philosophy and psychology, both in Italy and in France and England.

These are the experiences that ultimately allowed her to develop the pedagogical method that bears her name.

From medicine to pedagogy: beginnings of the Montessori method

At the time that Maria Montessori lived, medicine was strongly interested in finding treatments and even a "cure" for some conditions such as deafness, paralysis, intellectual disability, etc. But, what Maria Montessori observed while she worked with children with these conditions, was that what they really needed was not medicine, but pedagogy.

Maria Montessori made many observations at the Psychiatric Clinic of the University of Rome, which led her to realize that the The real problem that many children with disabilities will play in ways that seem socially inappropriate, was that they were bored, because they did not have didactic materials, in addition to the fact that the space in which they were found was very messy and their conditions were quite precarious

From there, Maria Montessori had the idea of ​​building a pleasant environment, she was convinced that the The conditions of space and materials were crucial for the development of the intellectual and social skills of the children. children. At that very moment she found out that there were two French doctors who had developed an educational method in a similar vein, so she traveled to Paris to meet with them.

Upon her return, the Italian state had inaugurated an institute aimed at enhancing the intellectual abilities of people with disabilities (School of Ortofrenia), where Maria Montessori she obtained the position of director and continued as a teacher trainerher, as well as a university professor and lecturer in different cities.

What was the first Montessori school?

Finally Maria Montessori had the opportunity to create her own educational center. In January 1907, she inaugurated the first Casa dei Bambini (House of Children - the name by which The classroom, or Montessori environment, for children from 3 to 6 years old, is known to this day. years-).

She paid special attention to how the environment would be set up, she had furniture made to the size of children (which at the time was quite innovative). She likewise designed educational material appropriate to the ages and sensitive periods of the children and hired a teacher as an assistant. Together they began working with around 50 children.

Maria Montessori she continued to constantly observe the evolution of the boys and girls, with which she was able to continue developing her educational method. In the same way, she was able to continue designing didactic activities and materials, but above all, she managed to establish the theoretical and empirical principles that define the method to this day.

Maria Montessori had finally become a teacher (just as her father had wanted), but her biography shows us that she was also a woman who revolutionized the traditional ways of teaching-learning: she maintained the commitment to respect the boys and girls, with which she was able to recognize what they needed to learn more easily.

Her method was initially recognized as a "scientific pedagogy" that eventually had repercussions in homes, because it was notorious that the boys and girls very easily transferred their knowledge and habits to their homes and also to public spaces. She had inaugurated a way to promote the development of children that had implications far beyond formal education and the schools themselves.

Bibliographic references:

• Pushin, C. (2017). Montessori explained to parents. Theory and practice of Montessori pedagogy at school and at home. Publishing platform: Barcelona
• Obregon, N. L. (2006). Who was Maria Montessori. Contributions from Coatepec, 10: 149-171.