Büyükyalı Uluslararası Montessori Okulu
According to the work of Dr. Montessori and other educators of her time (e.g. Vygotsky, Itard, Piaget), and according to the “stages of development” that have been adopted and accepted by educational scientists, neurologists and child development specialists today, the child’s development occurs in cycles of three years. As a result, education in Montessori schools is not based on isolating students according to their exact age, but instead allows for mixed-age interactions according to the following cycles: (18 months – 3 years old, 3 – 6 years old, 6 – 9 years old, 9 – 12 years old).
During these three-year cycles, there is constant student-to-student communication and interaction, problem solving, child teaching child, and social cohesion in each classroom setting.
“Parents are worried that a 5 year old child teaching another child will set him/her back and waste time. Firstly, a child does not spend his/her time teaching another child all the time, the child’s decision is respected. Secondly, when teaching another child, the child better understands and assimilates what he knows. This is because they need to organize and analyze the information in their own memory in order to be able to teach another child.”
Maria Montessori – Emici Zihin
In mixed-age classrooms, the older children help the younger children; they become role models, develop leadership skills, learn to be more compassionate, and in fact play a co-teacher role in the classroom. In doing so, they learn and internalize the topics while sharing with the younger children. Younger children are also not constrained by their age in terms of learning, it is not a problem to go fast or slow in learning and each child progresses at their own pace.
With a developmentally appropriate approach, a program is designed according to the needs of each child. In other words, the program is tailored to the needs of the child, rather than the child fitting the program.
Respect for the child and his/her abilities is the basis of this philosophy, and this respect leads to trusting relationships.