an autonomous reality, but with the understanding that the “true” reality to which it is
opposed is considerably less “true” for the child than for us.”
Social Development
In the Montessori classroom, much of the young child’s work is focused on individual
learning tasks, performed separately. Each child works independently on a small rug,
doing a different task from the other children. Only the teacher, as facilitator, may
intervene if the child requests help. Socialization takes place in not bothering other
children working, in helping a younger child learn to do a new task, or in waiting one’s
turn if the child wants an activity already in use.
The Waldorf philosophy stresses that the child gradually learns to be a social being,
and that the development of the young child in the social realm is as important as
anything else we do. The teacher has the role of orchestrating how this happens – through
modeling good social behavior with children, through joining together in movement
activities, singing or games to develop group consciousness, and by helping children to
humanistically work through disagreements.
Structure and order
Madame Montessori described the classroom as a place where children are free to
move about at will, where the day is not divided between work periods and rest or play
periods. The children are free to choose their own activities in the classroom. This
protection of the child’s choice is a key element in the Montessori method.
In contrast, Waldorf sees the child thriving in a rhythmical atmosphere – knowing
what he/she can count on from day to day and week to week. There are times for coming
together and working as a whole group, times for playing individually or with friends,
times for directed activity like crafts or baking or painting, and times for creative play
(such as acting a story out through movement, doing finger games, watching a puppet
show). The Waldorf teacher works with the year’s seasonal rhythms and themes, weaving
artistic activities, stories, songs and verses to enliven and capture the children’s interest
and imaginations.
A child longs for rhythm and order in his world. Both Waldorf and Montessori
recognize this, and both feel the physical setting needs an underlying order to help the
child feel secure. But the two philosophies interpret it in quite different ways: the
Montessori classroom emphasizes reality, to free a child from his fantasies. The Waldorf
classroom enhances the child’s world of fantasy and imagination to stimulate the child’s
play.
Intellectual development
Montessori sees the child as having an absorbent mind, ready to soak up knowledge
and experience like a sponge. The theory is that, by supplying a child with ever more
challenging intellectual tasks from an early age, you will end up with an educated child.
Waldorf does not believe this is the healthiest way to approach the education of young
children.
Rather than introducing an early intellectual focus, Waldorf instead seeks to nourish
and to keep alive the young child’s healthy imagination and creative thinking powers. The child’s intellectual potential lies within, and it unfolds slowly, like petals of a
maturing flower, as the child moves from one developmental stage to the next.
In Waldorf early childhood classrooms, we do not seek to produce premature flowers
of intellectual learning, much as these flowers might find appreciation. We rather forego
such immediate satisfaction, and focus our attentions upon each child’s ultimate good,
and upon the protection of his/her childhood, with the goal of a healthy, well-rounded
adult in the future.
This article was originally shared on WhyWaldorfWorks.org
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WALDORF:
Grunelius, Elizabeth M., Early Childhood Education and the Waldorf School Plan;
Spring Valley, N.Y.:Waldorf School Monographs 1983.
Piening, Ekkehard and Nick Lyons, ed., Educating as an Art New York: The Rudolf
Steiner School Press, 1979.
MONTESSORI:
Gitter, Lena L., The Montessori Way Seattle: Special Child Publications, Inc. 1970.
Lillard, Paula Polk, Montessori: A Modern Approach New York: Schocken Books, 1973.
Montessori, Maria, The Absorbent Mind New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1979.
OTHERS:
Pearce, Joseph Chilton, Magical Child New York: Bantam Books, 1977.
Piaget, Jean, Play, Dreams & Imitation in Childhood New York: W.W. Norton & Co.,
1962
This article was edited with special thanks to Jim Schaeffer and Lisa White.