Communicating Safety and Aligning with Others
“Education is the help we must give to life so that it may develop in the greatness of its powers. To help those great forces which bring the child, inert at birth, to the greatness of the adult being, this should be the plan of education – to see what help we can give. ”
Maria Montessori The 1946 London Lectures, p. 28
What does it take for a Montessori coach to successfully problem-solve and tackle challenges while maintaining authenticity and resilience?
Our attempts at answering these questions bring us face to face with fundamental tenets such as lifelong learning and the spiritual preparation of the Montessori adult. These tenets speak to one's commitment to self development and we must remember that it is in the context of community that we learn, grow, and live into our cosmic tasks. When we as adults are clear about the help that we need, and feel confident in seeking that help out, we find that we are more equipped to recognize, shape, and activate our gifts.
Montessori coaches play an active role in offering the direct support and resources needed that build a teacher’s capacity to move steadily along a path of self-refinement and solve problems that arise in their teaching and learning practice. They also provide direct support for teachers who may experience internal struggles, or be challenged by their work or colleagues. Coaching is essentially an aspect of building community.
Psychological Safety
Similar to classroom teachers, coaches must establish trust so teachers feel comfortable with expressing their conflicts. Demonstrating empathy and non-judgmental listening creates psychologically safe coaching relationships. Teachers should feel safe to bring their issues around identity and inclusion and know that their concerns will be centered. In order to validate teachers’ experiences and emotions coaches will need to commit to ongoing professional and personal development in diversity, equity and inclusion’s role in Montessori education broadly, as well as how such issues impact their personal lives and the lives of the teachers they support.
Engaged Listening
Supporting teachers with internal struggles that may surface in professional spaces is also an important role of the coach. When coaches are able to give full attention during conversations and use reflective questioning techniques, teachers are more likely to engage in deep self-reflection. This type of intimate exchange ultimately supports the coaching process, empowering teachers to express their desires, fears, and ask critical questions of themselves and their teaching and learning practices. Through engaged listening, coaches model paraphrasing and confirming understanding before responding, which supports teachers to implement the same in their workspaces.
Montessori coaching reaches far beyond supporting teachers to give lessons and observe children. It also requires building trusting relationships and coaching with a critically conscious eye while keeping the social emotional, equity and inclusion needs of the adult in mind. With this understanding, lifelong learning takes precedence, not only for the teacher, but for the Montessori coach as well.
