It’s their decision

I was reading an article recently that reported on Kenneth Durham’s views of the new, English baccalaureate system amongst other things. Although the article was interesting, it was the quotation that made up the title that particularly struck me. Mr Durham proclaimed that ‘To develop and flourish, pupils need choice’.

There is a lot to be said for this statement not only regarding education but general child development too. Giving a child free choice can help them to develop quicker in so many different aspects of their lives. I know this from personal experience of the Montessori schooling system – an education system which was originally set up by Dr Maria Montessori which focuses on giving youngsters a choice in what they spend time doing so that they become independent.

I have two younger brothers. When the first brother reached nursery school age, my mother sent him to a Montessori school rather than a mainstream playgroup. Here, as well as meeting and playing with other children, he was encouraged to make his own decisions as to what he wanted to do. Activities were laid out for the children at the right level for their height and they were free to do as they pleased for quite substantial amounts of time. By the time my second brother reached nursery school age, we had moved away from the area and the Montessori school was simply not an option. Therefore, he went to a local playgroup which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Throughout my childhood I noticed that my two brothers’ approaches to life were distinctly different. For example, the oldest brother could manage time effectively from a very young age due to a high level of self-discipline, whereas the younger brother always needed a lot more parental guidance as to what he should be doing. In a social situation, the oldest brother is always the leader of the group, whereas the younger brother is a follower. Perhaps individual character traits or position in the family do play into this but we definitely see an emerging trend here that the child who spends time in a ‘choice-based’ environment develops quicker and more positively than the child who is in a more ‘instruction-based’ environment.

Not all children can attend a specially designed school but we can review our day to day parenting in light of both Dr Montessori and the words of Kenneth Durham. Are we dictators to our children or are we simply there to guide them with the decisions that they are free to make? And if we find ourselves in the former category, maybe we need to consider changing our attitude so that our children really can ‘develop and flourish’ throughout their lives. In the words of Dr Maria Montessori herself, children are ‘drawn’ to something ‘by the needs of their inner life, which must be recognised and developed by its [own] means’.

By Ash Nolan