My Montessori Life with Barbara Isaacs and David Gettman My Montessori Child

In this second of three podcasts on the theme of drama, Barbara and David are joined by two guests: Di Trevis, one of Britain’s leading theatre directors, the first woman to run a company at the Royal National Theatre where her Remembrance of Things Past won an Olivier Award, a director of productions at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal Opera House, and an acclaimed teacher of acting and directing in the UK and across the world for leading actors including Gary Oldman, Kenneth Branagh and Rupert Everett; and our second guest, Peter Clements, a young actor, teacher and writer who trained at The Drama Centre under Di’s leadership, and who has worked extensively in theatre, feature films and TV, and as a visiting teacher at the RADA and LAMDA theatre schools. His recent creative output includes a critically-acclaimed solo show and a dance-theatre production at the Bristol Old Vic.

In this first of three podcasts on the theme of drama, Barbara and David consider how dramatic role-play, which all young children naturally engage in, fits with Montessori’s ideas. While Montessori didn’t address drama per se, she did identify social relations as a Sensitive Period from ages two to five. And she did encourage practical social skills, interpersonal communications, grace and courtesy, and conflict resolution in the classroom — all of which help the child to navigate their social environment. But Montessori did not explicitly address role-playing as a learning activity, and she did not explain how the Absorbent Mind constructs an understanding of social relations. As a result, Montessori practitioners often go out of their way to suppress natural role-playing, especially where it tends towards pretend play, since Montessori emphasised ‘real life’ over fantasy. Practitioners also worry that social role-play might interfere with a child’s concentration on independent learning.

In this third of three podcasts on the theme of motherhood, Barbara and David are joined by two guests: Sabine Leitner, who trained as a musician in her native Austria, opened a music school and puppet theatre for young children in Vienna, and then changed careers, earning an MA in Philosophy and another MA in Psychosynthesis, which is a form of therapy she now practices in London; and Roxana Haloiu, a qualified and experienced Montessori practitioner, and mother of baby Theo. To combine the two vocations, she also now runs a Montessori-inspired playgroup for her north London community.

In this second of three podcasts on the theme of motherhood, Barbara and David are joined by two guests: Roxana Haloiu, a qualified and experienced Montessori practitioner, and mother of baby Theo. To combine the two vocations, she also now runs a Montessori-inspired playgroup for her north London community; and Sabine Leitner, who trained as a musician in her native Austria, opened a music school and puppet theatre for young children in Vienna, and then changed careers, earning an MA in Philosophy and another MA in Psychosynthesis, which is a form of therapy she now practices in London.

In this first of three podcasts on the theme of motherhood, Barbara and David look at Maria Montessori’s view of the role of the mother in child development. Maria was a mother herself, but in difficult circumstances. She was one of the first women in Italy to qualify as a doctor. As she specialised in paediatrics, Maria was appointed co-director of a training institute in Rome for professionals working with mentally-disabled children. She and the institute’s other director, another young doctor called Giuseppe Montesano, happened to fall in love and have a baby together. Because Giuseppe’s high-born family would not allow them to marry, Maria had to give up the baby, named Mario, to the father’s family for them to raise. So Maria Montessori’s motherhood was a secret, even to her son, until they re-united when Mario was much older. Some think this experience of ‘motherhood denied’ may have influenced Maria Montessori’s decision to dedicate her life’s work to children.

In this third of three podcasts on the theme of nature, Barbara and David are joined by three guests: Nicola Davies, who trained as a biologist, was an original presenter on the BBC’s The Really Wild Show, and is the acclaimed author of over 80 illustrated children’s books on animals, habitats, ecology and the sea; and Jonathan Preston, Conservation Manager for the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, one a series of such posts he has held across the country over three decades, with current responsibility for wildlife conservation at 30 different sites in Norfolk. Nicola, as such a prolific children’s author, what effect do you hope your books have on children and the wider community?