Montessori and Moral Development: Part I

Moral development is a subject that throughout history has been widely discussed, advocated and oft times despaired upon. Today, in our complex society, it continues to be relevant. In his article on “Montessori and Moral Development”, Greg MacDonald takes the reader through the child’s developmental planes, dwelling on the insights and discoveries made by Maria Montessori as well as her practical observations and suggestions for the child and the adult alike.

Greg clearly shows that ‘The Montessori theory of moral development is a component of Maria Montessori's child development theory. (…) throughout the world children seemed to develop according to a pattern that was common to all. The timing of any part of the pattern's appearance in any one child was unpredictable. However, it seemed that children within a particular age range tended to behave in the same manner, manifesting a common pattern of behaviour.

Eventually, Montessori developed from these observations her concept of the “Four Planes of Development”. Children, she stated, appeared to pass through four stages of development. Each lasted for about six years. Each manifested different physical development, different behaviours and different learning powers. 'If these periods be considered separately, the typical mentality of the children in each appears so different that they might almost belong to different individuals.'

Maria Montessori concluded that if we were ‘to best serve children, then we should tailor what we do with them to their plane of development. Their needs were different at each plane’. (…) ‘As she observed children, Montessori also forged a theory of moral development. New manifestations of moral development occurred in each of the four planes of development’.