A pioneering work extending the Montessori method to elementary-age children, presenting education as a process of guided self-construction
What the Work Is
Self-Education in the Elementary School is a foundational educational treatise by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori, first published in Italian in 1917 under the title L’autoeducazione nelle Scuole Elementari. The work appeared in English as The Advanced Montessori Method, reflecting its position as a sequel to her earlier and more famous book on early childhood education, The Montessori Method (1909). The book represents Montessori’s first systematic attempt to adapt her revolutionary educational philosophy—already established in preschool settings known as Children’s Houses—to the education of children between six and twelve years of age.
What the Book Is About
The central argument of Self-Education in the Elementary School is that the principles Montessori had developed for young children could and should be extended to elementary education. The book presents a comprehensive vision of how children in the elementary years can direct their own learning when provided with an appropriately prepared environment and carefully designed materials. Montessori argues that education at this level should not be primarily about teacher-led instruction but about creating conditions in which children’s natural curiosity and developmental readiness lead them to acquire knowledge independently. The work demonstrates, through detailed exposition of materials and methods, how subjects such as grammar, arithmetic, and geometry can be taught in ways that respect children’s innate drive toward self-construction and intellectual growth.
Key Ideas and Themes
The concept of self-education stands at the heart of the book. Montessori had observed in her earlier work with young children that they learned most deeply and joyfully when they were free to choose their own activities and work at their own pace. In this volume, she extends that insight to older children, arguing that elementary students are equally capable of directing their own learning when given the right tools and environment. The teacher’s role shifts from that of an instructor delivering knowledge to that of an observer and guide who prepares the environment and then steps back to allow children’s natural development to unfold.
A related theme is the importance of didactic materials—specifically designed educational objects that isolate particular concepts and allow children to discover them through hands-on manipulation. The book describes in detail materials Montessori developed for teaching elementary subjects, including those for grammar, arithmetic, and geometry. These materials were not merely aids to instruction but were conceived as instruments of self-education, enabling children to grasp abstract concepts through concrete sensory experience and repeated practice.
Montessori also emphasizes the developmental appropriateness of education. She argues that children at different ages have different capacities and interests, and that education must be calibrated to these developmental stages rather than imposed uniformly. The elementary years, in her view, are a period when children’s powers of reasoning and imagination are expanding, and the curriculum should harness these emerging abilities.
The book reflects Montessori’s broader commitment to what she called scientific pedagogy—an approach to education grounded in careful observation of children rather than in tradition or abstract theory. Her method of developing the elementary curriculum followed the same pattern she had used with younger children: observe what engages children’s attention, design materials that support their natural interests, and refine the approach based on what actually works in practice.
Structure and Approach
The book is organized around the presentation of Montessori’s elementary method, with substantial attention given to the specific subjects of grammar, arithmetic, and geometry. For each subject, Montessori explains the underlying educational principles and then describes the materials and exercises she developed to teach it. The approach is practical and detailed, reflecting Montessori’s conviction that educational theory must be embodied in concrete practices and tools.
The work also includes discussion of how the elementary classroom should be organized and how teachers should work within it. Montessori describes the environment she envisions for elementary students, one that supports independence, concentration, and self-directed activity while providing the structure and materials necessary for academic learning.
Significance and Influence
Self-Education in the Elementary School represents a significant expansion of the Montessori method beyond its original preschool context. Published at a moment when Montessori education was spreading rapidly internationally—by 1917, Montessori schools had been established across Europe, North America, and beyond—the book helped establish that the method was not limited to early childhood but could inform education throughout the elementary years.
The work also contributed to the ongoing development of Montessori’s educational philosophy. It was published during the period when Montessori was based in Barcelona, where she had established a research and training institute and was actively developing materials and methods for elementary education. The book codified this work and made it available to the growing international Montessori movement.
For educators and readers interested in alternative approaches to schooling, the book remains significant as a detailed articulation of how self-directed learning can work in practice for older children. Its emphasis on children’s capacity to educate themselves, given appropriate materials and freedom, continues to inform Montessori education today, and its detailed presentation of materials for grammar, arithmetic, and geometry has influenced how these subjects are taught in Montessori schools worldwide.
The source material details the biographical and professional trajectory that led Montessori to develop the elementary curriculum presented in Self-Education in the Elementary School. Her medical training at the University of Rome, where she graduated with honors in 1896, was marked by significant obstacles due to her gender, including hostility from some students and professors and being required to perform cadaver dissections alone after hours. Her early career included work with “phrenasthenic children”—those with cognitive delays, illness, or disability—at the Orthophrenic School, which she co-directed from 1900. There, she developed methods and materials that she later adapted for use with mainstream children, and some of the children in her model classroom, previously considered “uneducable,” later passed public examinations given to so-called “normal” children.
Her subsequent studies in philosophy at the University of Rome, which included psychology, and her independent research in anthropology and educational philosophy, led her to conduct observations and experimental research in elementary schools. During this period, she began to consider adapting her methods for educating children with learning difficulties to mainstream education. This work culminated in her qualification as a free lecturer in anthropology at the University of Rome in 1904, where she lectured until 1908, with her lectures later printed as the book Pedagogical Anthropology in 1910.
The Foundation in the Children’s Houses
The elementary method was built upon observations made in the first Casa dei Bambini, which opened in the San Lorenzo district of Rome on 6 January 1907, enrolling 50 or 60 children between the ages of two or three and six or seven. In this initial classroom, Montessori observed behaviors that formed the foundation of her educational method, including episodes of deep attention and concentration, multiple repetitions of activity, and a sensitivity to order in the environment. She noted that children showed more interest in practical activities and her materials than in toys, and were surprisingly unmotivated by sweets and other rewards. Over time, she saw a spontaneous self-discipline emerge.
Based on these observations, she implemented practices that became hallmarks of her philosophy, such as replacing heavy furniture with child-sized tables and chairs, placing materials on low, accessible shelves, and expanding the range of practical activities. She came to believe that by working independently, children could reach new levels of autonomy and become self-motivated. She began to see independence as the aim of education, with the teacher’s role being that of an observer and director of children’s innate psychological development. The success of the first Casa led to a second opening on 7 April 1907, and by the fall of that year, Montessori began experimenting with teaching materials for writing and reading, such as sandpaper letters and moveable cutout letters, which led to four- and five-year-old children gaining proficiency in writing and reading far beyond what was expected for their age.
Development and Publication of the Elementary Work
The source material confirms that the elementary materials and methods were developed over a five-year period prior to the book’s publication. In 1916, Montessori gave a fourth international training course in Barcelona, Spain, which included materials and methods for teaching grammar, arithmetic, and geometry to elementary school children from six to twelve years of age. The book L’autoeducazionne nelle Scuole Elementari was published in 1917, appearing in English as The Advanced Montessori Method. This work was published during a period when Montessori was based in Barcelona, where a program sponsored by the Catalan government had developed into the Escola Montessori, serving children from three to ten years old, and the Laboratori i Seminari de Pedagogia, a research, training, and teaching institute.
The source material also notes that in 1934, Montessori published two books in Spain, Psicogeometrica and Psicoarithemetica, which are related to the subjects of geometry and arithmetic covered in the elementary method.
