The Child’s Work

For adults, "work" surely means holding a trade for a living. Or perhaps they refer to "work" as the product of an activity. Surely, many will agree that adults work to produce something.

However, María Montessori made the world aware that the “child's work” is very different from that of the adult. She concluded that the child's work is his development; his own construction and training.

In Montessori, "work" refers to any activity that a child carries out with purpose. In other words, we refer to work as any activity that the child chooses because it satisfies a developmental need. It is through work that the child is "forming" and developing. As he works and trains himself, he experiences great joy.

When we see an infant very concentrated on achieving a movement or in trying to reach an object, we realize that this activity satisfies his development at that stage of his life. When we see a child of the Elementary level discovering and memorizing the multiplication combinations with the finger chart, we see that the work fills him with joy because he has managed to discover and learn independently; by himself.

The prepared environment is essential for the child to be able to do his work; so that it can develop. The environment provides for the development of the child according to the development stage in which he is. Through the exploration of the environment the child chooses the activity that his internal strength guides him to work. That internal force responds to its development.

Through the materials provided by the environment, children discover and learn by themselves; without the adult imposing or intervening in the internal process of the child. The interaction of children of different ages in the environment also promotes the development of each of them because through observation and collaboration they learn from each other. Finally, the adult or environment's guide observes and facilitates all the necessary conditions for the environment to provide what the child needs to do his "job"; For their development.

* Written by Gladiza Santiago, Workshop II Coordinator at the Instituto Nueva Escuela