from La Scoperta del Bambino (The Discovery of the
Child) Garzanti, page 31, edition 2010
“The
chief contribution made by Pestalozzi to education was the principle
that a teacher must have a special training that is not simply
intellectual but which also touches the heart. According to him,
education is fundamentally “a contact between souls” and a
teacher must feel “respect for and harmony with” the children she
teaches. "
Pestalozzi (1746-1827) was a Swiss pedagogue who proposed revolutionary modern
principles of education and was considered “the father of a new
education of empathy”. He was responsible for Switzerland
overcoming illiteracy almost completely by 1830 (wikipedia). His motto was
“learning by head, hand and heart”. He taught that children first learn through their senses and through their experiences, for example if you want to learn about generosity you have to practice generosity. And he taught that children have inner powers that drive them to develop, through their emotions first, and then through their hands and finally with their mind. And he taught that people learn best if they feel loved by their teacher. Though he had a great influence on education he is relatively little known.
"The
first hour of education is the hour after birth. From the moment the
senses of the newborn child begin to receive impressions from nature,
nature educates them.
It
takes great strength to be able to wait patiently for them to
mature.”
Johann
Heinrich Pestalozzi
And Montessori continues her discussion of the two factors in education, the secure relationships children need as understood by Pestalozzi, and the prepared environment, as understood with the scientific pedagogy...
"However, this is only the first, though essential, step in the process of reawakening the innate spirit in the child. A child’s own activities must then find the means (herein the science of it) that lead to his development. This second element of a child’s education is the contribution of the scientific pedagogy.
This is why we can say today, from the fruit
of our own experience, that a teacher is the “match maker”
between a child, who may be disturbed, numb or repressed, and the
environment that has been prepared for his active experience.
Often
this relationship between a child and his environment cannot happen
until he has first been freed from the burden of previous repression
and its disastrously harmful effects. In such a case, we must
initiate the process of healing, or as we say, “normalizing”
before the child can be offered a means for his development.
Many of
our teachers have suffered serious disappointment because of their
lack of success. They began their work as if the child has already
gone through this transformation and overlooked the need for the
process of healing.”
Maria Montessori at 10
Comments
Post a Comment