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Here at Melbourne Montauri School, we expect more from education. You're going to see the five main points which differentiate a Montauri adolescent education and help students see that they are valued as individuals and that they can start living their lives now for the 21st century.
First, by building identity, we make sure that each student is guided to become the best version of themselves they can be. Adolescent years can be very challenging; students can sometimes feel swamped by the new environment and new expectations and often feel lost in the crowd. The Montauri classroom is designed to be a supportive environment for an adolescent student to build an identity. This allows our students to learn from their mistakes in an emotionally safe, controlled environment with the support of their peers and mentors. Because of the small class size, every member of the class has a meaningful voice, and with two teachers in every class, any challenges a student is dealing with are recognized very early on. “I think we can definitely be ourselves in the classroom,” “I think it’s a wide diversity of kids, so we’re all kind of different; we’ve got different interests, so we’re not judged by what we like doing or what we don’t like doing.”
Two, why would school be boring? We ensure that they see the relevance of whatever it is they’re learning. Teenagers are faced with more stimulation and distraction than ever before, and it’s up to our schools to engage and focus our students toward constructive and practical tasks to complement their academic studies. The Montauri system teaches students to be self-motivated, define their own interests and intentions for learning, and then builds on that. An example of this is that all the sciences are taught through real-world application; for example, the chicken coop which they’re currently designing and will be building soon. One of the key elements of the Montauri system is the idea of differential learning, which is the expectation that students are at different stages of comprehension of any given subject. This allows students to progress at their own rate and learn in their own way, with teachers constantly keeping track of where every student is along that progression. By using differential learning strategies, we’re able to extend our students more so academically. “So I really am passionate about English, and my teacher is currently helping me write a novel, which I’m about halfway through; I’ve done 20,000 words and I’m hoping to get that published by the end of the year.” “Did we… we enjoyed making like a chicken, designing one… designing one and um… figuring out… there’s this… there was this website we used called SketchUp, and we had to figure out how to use it, and you could make a model out of it on this computer… on the computer, and it was really fun. You make 3D shapes and design it and choose like what… what you like, and you can also design the inside of it. But we learned skills that you wouldn’t learn in a basic curriculum.” “I find it easy to learn when you’re actually doing it yourself compared to doing it in like textbooks and stuff, ‘cause in textbooks they just give you an idea of how it works, and they don’t tell you anything that could go wrong. If you do it hands-on, you can see that, and that’s the stuff you learn here which you won’t learn in a textbook.”
Three, the Montauri philosophy is learning to love learning. Putting students under great stress to achieve or perform isn’t so conducive to a good learning environment. The Montauri system operates on the basis that academic achievement is a byproduct of having an engaged, relaxed student. The classrooms are deliberately set up to be reassuring and as much like the home as possible. As an example, our adolescent program runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., which is what research indicates as the most productive time for a developing mind to be at work. This also allows students enough downtime to rest and cope with the physiological development of adolescence. “I mean, it’s good that no one’s like stressed, or no one’s having difficulties or anything like that; everyone’s friendly; no one’s arguing or anything like that; it’s all just relaxed and just good. And then in Mur, you’re in a circle, or you’re just… you get to choose where you want to sit, and in different… you sit on the couch and like… it’s… there’s a lot of freedom.”
Four, how do we prepare our students for a world that we don’t know? School can sometimes feel too far removed from real life and be teaching ideas or processes that may no longer be particularly useful in the 21st century. The Montauri method recognizes that school is just the start of a wider ongoing education and that students should be prepared for real life, not just assessment. So experiencing real life is part of every day. This… as soon as you finish school, your education becomes totally self-directed. Teaching students to be independent learners is a core value of the Montauri system. Research shows that students retain information better by working things out for themselves, so that’s a big emphasis on self-discovery. “So it’s really good ‘cause in like occupations we get to learn the um… different programming languages like JavaScript and Python, and it’s really good ‘cause in the future um… there are going to be lots of jobs that are going to need to be with programming, and we’re learning it early on, so yeah…” “[Music] Microeconomics for businesses, and it’s a lot better than reading from a book because you actually get the experience, you know, doing business with customers in the cafe, which is really, really good. Every Friday we have a mini cafe; we make coffees and hot chocolates and we sell them to the Cycle One parents and teachers, with also baked goods and sell lunch to the Cycle One teachers; we’re already running our own business at school. You can have as much knowledge as you want in the world, but if you don’t have the skills and experience to apply it, it’s nothing, because you don’t know how to use it.”
Five, in our Montauri school, there’s a real feeling of collaboration and support, and it all starts with community. High school is a time of very formative life lessons when it comes to building friendships and social relationships. The Montauri system puts a great emphasis on community, which, through small class sizes and shared experiences, gives the students a great sense of belonging. We also often see students naturally taking on a role as a leader, which is encouraged by there being multiple age groups in one classroom. Research shows that one of the most important things for an adolescent is to have a strong community around them, so our students are very involved in their immediate environment, the Junior School community, and the wider community. “We also get a lot of freedom in our ideas; Montauri promotes that, and that’s what’s good, so when we’re older we can be more creative in our ideas and invent new things that no one would have ever thought of.” “Yes, and that’s the beauty in it.” At Melbourne Montauri School, on top of the standard Australian curriculum, we help each student wholly grow from adolescence to adulthood. Expect more from education.