La Maestra

Graduating from an AMI course is just the first step in a very challenging but rewarding process, as is clearly indicated in this lecture given by Maria Montessori on an international course in Rome, in the early thirties of the last century.

By taking a different stance from what is generally common in education, the directress allows the child to develop according to his own inner directives. But it is not only the child who develops. In the words of Maria Montessori ‘this school is both for the teacher and for the child...in which the one contributes to the development of the other’.

And if...the adult comes to the conclusion that he should act for the benefit of the child only once he has understood him, and therefore only after he has identified exactly what his needs are, and that as a result he decides he should study the child in order to lead him according to the inner qualities he has so discovered - even then the educator remains at the same static point, because his actions are still based on the principle that it is education which moulds the child.

We want to express another principle, which is not an idea but one which has been derived from a long and varied experience. Our principle is that one must limit the actions of the adult towards the child, so as to give him the possibility to develop without an ever-present oppressive will stronger than his own.

…and as it is the child who makes the adult, it is easy to realise that a well or poorly developed child will be a strong or weak man. Also easy to realise should be the consequences of giving the child unnecessary help.

This principle of limiting the help of the adult so as not to harm the child, so as not arrest his development, is one of the most fundamental in our method of education which promotes instead the need of devoting very delicate care to the child. We must assume the attitude of becoming observers, to be prudent and humble so as not to overstep the limits we have set for ourselves. We must give what is necessary and sufficient - but nothing more.

…an effort is required. But as the field in which one enters is so fascinating and as the new world revealed by the child under one's care becomes so irresistible...little by little, almost without noticing it, the teacher comes to understand, to enjoy and, therefore, with practice, to perfect herself.