Maria Montessori Approach Analysis

Montessori approach is popular in Malaysia context. According to the statistic on the amount of Montessori preschools in Malaysia (PreschoolMalaysia), there are one hundred and six Montessori preschools in Malaysia. This essay provides a brief description about Montessori preschools in Malaysia context and the criticisms about the Montessori approach that practiced in Malaysia context based on the traditional Montessori approach.

Criticism 1: Teacher spoon-feed knowledge to children rather than allowing children to explore with the materials and learn from experiences.

In Malaysia’s education system, teachers used to spoon-feed the knowledge to children. As teachers believe that this makes the lesson runs easily and smoothly. Therefore, learners

Bradshaw (2014) states that, “Bandura’s(1977) theory of social learning describes human learning as coming from others through observation, imitation, and reinforcement. We learn from society, and we learn to be social.” One of the pedagogical methods that Dr Maria Montessori used in ‘Children’s houses’ is OBSERVATION. According to Dr Maria Montessori (1912),“The method of observation must undoubtedly include the methodical obser­vation of the morphological growth of the pupils. … The method of observation is established upon one fundamental base—the liberty of the pupils in their spontaneous manifestations.” In school, not only children are the learners, teachers too. One of the teachers’ roles is to teach children to learn through observing the environment, their peers, and children themselves. Through observing, teachers can know more about the child, teachers able to notice when the child needs help or guidance in his or her learning progress, and teacher able to know about the child’s family background, as this may affect the development of the child’s cognitive, physical, and social and emotional, this helps teachers to scaffold the child to improve his or her weakness and move to the next higher level of developmental mile stones. Through observing, children can learn through imitating their peers’ attitudes(teachers have to correct children if they behave negative attitudes), children can learn to observe others’ emotional and build good social

… If discipline is founded upon liberty, the discipline itself must necessarily be active. We do not consider an individual disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not disciplined.” For a teacher, classroom management is important. It develops an ideal learning environment for learners, it prevent teachers burnout with the unmanageable classroom, it helps learners to learn effectively with safe and comfort environment. To manage the classroom effectively, teachers need to teach children about how to discipline themselves. It called 'individual disciplined’. Dr Maria Montessori(1912) stated that, “We call an individual disciplined when he is master of himself, and can, therefore, regulate his own conduct when it shall be necessary to follow some rule of life.” Robert Wood and Albert Bandura(1989) stated that, “… behaviour, cognitive, and other personal factors, and environmental events operate as interacting determinants that influence each other bidirectionally.” A man has to learn to master himself, to know that what is appropriate behaviour and what is inappropriate behaviour, as behaviours and thinking may affect his or her academic learning and social learning. Dr Maria Montessori(1912) stated that, “… the teacher who is to lead the child along such a path of discipline, if she is to make it