EURO MONTESSORI

The main objective of the project was to make a part of the broader Montessori methodology available to all professionals who are employed in the world of children's education with particular refe...

The main objective of the project was to make a part of the broader Montessori methodology available to all professionals who are employed in the world of children's education with particular reference to the 2-6 age group, responding to a demand for the development of a quality educational system from the earliest years as a priority. The introduction of this methodology within the educational curriculum aims to increase the quality of children's learning through hands-on exercises that go to stimulate cognitive processes thus increasing numeracy and language skills in addition to motor skills and psycho-motor coordination. Teachers who took part in this project also acquired skills related to the organization of the educational learning environment and new skills in conducting classroom activities. In order to achieve the set training objectives, different training activities aimed at teachers were designed in which young students from partner schools were also able to participate. At the conclusion of the training activities, a manual was created and made available to a wide audience of stakeholders that is intended as a guideline and best practices for implementing some activities within learning environment.

Through 4 international meetings a training on the montessori method was planned conducted by the Italian teachers who transferred the technical-practical knowledge to the Turkish and Lithuanian teachers, these had only basic knowledge of Maria Montessori's pedagogy and through the project activities they had the opportunity to experience this pedagogy in the practice field. Phase following the training was to implement what they learned in their own classrooms of children and monitor through quantitative and qualitative tools the experimental phase and evaluate the impact of the new method applied on children's skills. Teachers who took part in the training underwent questionnaires on entry and exit from the training to assess the skills acquired during the training. The four international meetings were : 1 - TPM ITALY - observation of Italian Montessori institutes - first Montessori approach 2 - LTT ITALY - 5 days intensive technical-practical Montessori methodology 3 - LTT LITHUANIA - 5 days intensive and experimentation of activities on local children and teachers 4 - TPM TURKEY - mini workshop with Turkish teachers and children

A handbook available to all stakeholders was produced and translated into 4 languages, English, Italian, Turkish and Lithuanian. The handbook is a document that describes the entire training experience lived during the two years of the project and is intended to be a guide of good practices, an educational support available to all school professionals working in contact with children. The knowledge of the teachers who took part in the planned training has grown as a result of this community experience, and the educational offerings of the schools, where the Montessori method is not implemented, have had a positive development while also improving the children's learning environment. All of the action research methodology that has been carried out over these two years has been made public and d available to all third sector professionals. Thirty teachers took part in the training and the implementation of the post-training activities took place on about 450 children.