Social development
A world of peace, isn’t that what all nations long for? But how to achieve this? We see greed, egoism, hate and power struggles around us. Don’t newspapers thrive on these headlines?
As the saying goes: ‘If you want to change the world, start at home’! This was also Maria Montessori’s conclusion. She lived through two World Wars and came to the conclusion that “ all politics can do is keep us out of war, it is only education …..
Positive social contact helps the world at large, but also makes an individual happier in the long run. Why create competition? Is it true that children will only ‘move’ when they want to be better than others? How about the internal urge for the sake of ones own future? In school, we have developed an atmosphere of respect for yourself and others. Children are assisted in engaging in positive social contact. Bullying is a ‘no-no’ and if it happens it is discussed as a concept, deeply in the group.
The different ingredients of this prepared social environment are:
- A supportive approach
- The development of inner discipline
- Trust, and therefore children feel emotionally safe:
- Nobody is put down and teasing is not allowed
- Teachers have deep contact and are fair and friendly
- Creating an order and work atmosphere in classrooms, consequently there is very little misbehaviour.
- Children receive help to really learn, not to compete; children are given the message that they always work towards developing themselves for themselves. Not for the sake of being better than someone else.
- Multi age ranges, obviously indicating that everyone is different and that is how it should be!
