Early Learning

Three early childhood education approaches enjoy great popularity in the United States and indeed throughout the world. They all had their origins in the teaching of European society's poorest, most disadvantaged children. To understand the changes which Dr. Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, and Reggio Emilia founder, Loris Malaguzzi, wrought on the European educational system back at the beginning of the 20th century, we need to know how children were educated at that time. The prevailing methodology used drills and memorization. Children's minds were considered to be small versions of adult minds which needed to be expanded with knowledge. Rather than letting children explore and discover on their own, as we all know they are quite capable of doing, teachers filled their minds full of facts. Retention was achieved by drills and memorization. Teaching a child how to think was an ancillary objective if indeed it was an objective at all. Furthermore, most children finished their classroom instruction at age 10 or 11.

Montessori, Steiner, and Malaguzzi believed in the intrinsic abilities and capabilities of children. Their approaches, philosophies, and methods had a single, common purpose: to produce a better society in which human beings would respect each other and live in harmony and peace.

In America, these three educational approaches took root not in the poorest segments of society but in a middle and upper class eager to have something better than what was offered in the public school systems. Here is a comparison of the main features of the

Reggio Emilia is an approach to early childhood education which originated in Italy after World War II. While not as widely known as the Montessori and Waldorf methods, Reggio Emilia has attracted a small but extremely loyal following in the United States. You will not find many schools styled Reggio Emilia as you will with Montessori or Waldorf schools, for instance. What you will find are schools which draw heavily on Reggio Emilia ideas and philosophy. They often refer to themselves as Reggio Emilia-inspired schools.

This short video gives us an overview of the Reggio Emilia approach.

The foundation of the Reggio Emilia approach can be found in the movement's principles.

• Children must have some control over the direction of their learning;
• Children must be able to learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening, and observing;
• Children have a relationship with other children and with material items in the world that children must be allowed to explore;
• Children must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves.

What then is Reggio Emilia? Here are five facts about it. There's much more to Reggio Emilia, of course, but this will give you an idea of what it is all about.

1. It is strictly an early childhood education approach.

Reggio Emilia values "the potential of all children to think, learn, and construct knowledge." Like Montessori Reggio Emilia is a progressive, child-centered approach to education. The idea is

As you explore your elementary school options, take time to find out about Waldorf education. Waldorf schools, or Steiner schools as they are often called, had their genesis in the writings and philosophy of Austrian philosopher and social reformer Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). To put Steiner into some sort of context, think of him as northern Europe's equivalent of Dr. Maria Montessori.

These two remarkable people shared something in common which would ultimately lead to the establishment of educational movements based on their philosophies and approaches: namely that children from the less-privileged stratae of society were capable of achieving the same levels of academic accomplishment as children from more privileged homes. The key to success was their approach to teaching children as well as their insistence that the traditional ways of educating children not be used. In addition both Montessori and Steiner insisted on complete control of their schools. No state or local government interference would be tolerated.

Maria Montessori established her school in the poorest neighborhood of Rome because she was convinced that every child, no matter what his social circumstances, was capable of learning. Dr. Montessori carefully observed the children in her school and recorded the results of her experiment.

Rudolf Steiner like Dr. Montessori earned a doctoral degree. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Rostock in 1891 and established his first school for the children of factory workers in 1919.

Today Waldorf schools offer an alternative to traditional K-12 schools.

5 Facts About Montessori Schools

What is Montessori?

Montessori is the name of a very popular approach for teaching preschool and primary-age children. We'll explore the reasons for its popularity later. First, let's examine how Montessori got its start. As with many great movements, Montessori began with an idea and some theories by one of those remarkable visionaries who dot the pages of history.

Canva generated this photo of Dr. Montessori with children at her Casa dei Bambini.

Life and Work of Dr. Montessori

Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was born and raised in Italy.

• She came from a family of modest means.
• Her father did not approve of her desire to be educated, much less to become a doctor.
• Women didn't do such things back at the end of the 19th century.
• Despite the many obstacles that stood in her way, Maria earned her degree from the University of Rome in 1896.
• Her specialty was pediatric medicine.

While Dr. Montessori worked towards her degree, she studied and worked with mentally disabled children. She got her chance to put her experience, observations, and theories into practice when she was invited to open a school for the children of working-class families in 1907.

• The school was located in a low-income housing project in Rome.
• The first Casa dei Bambini was a traditional school with desks, chalkboards, and all the other accouterments of classrooms of the day.

Dr. Maria Montessori founded Casa de Bambini in a poor neighborhood of Rome, Italy, in 1906. She blazed new trails in early education by believing in the innate goodness of children, encouraging them to be curious and explore, and creating a teaching environment that followed the child.

Dr. Montessori's experiments and research ultimately produced a worldwide movement. Over 100 years later, her findings and research have stood the test of time and have been validated by modern analysis and investigation. Montessori schools have multiplied like rabbits in the United States from the 1960s onwards. Unlike Dr. Montessori's schools, which served poor children, most Montessori schools in North America educate children from the middle classes. Indeed, the Montessori approach has been used with children in all kinds of situations. It is very adaptable to the needs of a wide range of children.

Dr. Montessori never trademarked the name Montessori, nor did she claim any patents on her methodology. The result is that many Montessori schools out there claim to be the real thing. Some schools may include elements of Dr. Montessori's methods and philosophy in their teaching. Other schools quietly sublimate the parts of Dr. Montessori's thinking that may be inappropriate in their setting. In short, there are almost as many flavors of Montessori as there are schools. Not a bad thing in itself, but as always, do your due diligence. Caveat emptor!

Here are five things you should look for when vetting a school that