Montessori & IB
Eden Montessori International School Algarve Portugal

The International Baccalaureate(“the IB”)  program aims to create students who will respect and understand different backgrounds in order to create a better world.

The IB is known for its intellectual rigour and highly valued among colleges and universities worldwide. It is considered a gold standard in education.

In 1990, international educators designed the IBs PYP with inspiration from a plethora of constructivist learning styles, notably Montessori and Reggio Emilia. Then, as now, these approaches are regarded global best practices. Constructivism has been around since the first Montessori school opened in 1907. Then, in the 1930s, Jean Piaget came out with his innovative theory of learning and officially dubbed it constructivist theory.

Constructivism is a learning theory based on the concept that we all learn by developing our own knowledge of the world via experiences and reflection, rather than by merely absorbing knowledge supplied by someone else. In essence, constructivism argues that we gradually build (and revise) our own unique understanding of how things work and relate as we conduct observations, ask questions, and interact.

So, when you go into a Montessori classroom, you will find children researching and acquiring knowledge by engaging with things, instruments, the environment and each other. You will not see teachers educating pupils or pushing that they memorize things. In these environments, all knowledge is constructed by each student in a highly individualized fashion. No two experiences are alike.

In 1990, the inventors of the PYP were inspired by these early constructivist models and strove to find ways to expand on them and connect them to the powerful IB model of global relevancy, rigorous inquiry and peer-to-peer collaboration.

They collected notes from Montessori and Reggio Emilia and incorporated some basic components of each into the PYP.

By combining the best of the two methods, our students benefit from a comprehensive education, that nurtures their individuality, fosters a love for learning and prepares them for future academic and personal success no matter where they go, as the qualification is well recognized internationally.

The Montessori experience not only embodies a well-planned environment with Montessori materials but also is a philosophy of education. The philosophy emphasizes each child’s own natural desire to learn. Dr. Montessori believed that the child learns best within a social environment that supports an individual’s unique development. Her knowledge and time-tested experiences have resulted in an international system of schools that provide children with an aesthetically pleasing, well-ordered environment that promotes freedom of choice within structure and allows the child to work at his/her own pace.