.4 REVOLUTION IN PEDAGOGY. 



63i 



influence should be brouoht into the 

 schools, and particularly the public ele- 

 mentary schools of Great Britain, 

 formed a committee to which Dr. 

 Montessori gave her formal recognition. 

 The committee founded in March, 191 2, 

 the Montessori Society of the United 

 Kingdom. The first thing* to do was to 

 send out into the world properly trained, 

 efficient teachers. Dr. Montessori agreed 

 to instruct a limited number of very 

 carefully-selected students sent her by 

 the committee. Miss Lidbetter had been 

 sent to Rome some time previously by 

 the Hon. Mrs. Bowing and Mrs. Spender 

 Clay to learn the system in order to 

 teach their own children on Montessori 

 lines. When she returned, the two ladies 

 iinselfiishly allowed her to work for the 

 committee instead of for the benefit of 

 their children. 



In August, 191 2, Miss Lidbetter 

 began instructing a class of village chil- 

 dren at Runton, in Norfolk. She soon 

 proved to the full the truth of the pre- 

 cept that the letter kills, the spirit makes 

 alive, for there is no doubt that the 

 Montessori system is not a cut-and-dried 

 one to be imported en bloc and slavishly 

 copied in our schools. Once the master- 

 principle of liberty is grasped, the 

 method is capable of being modi&ed 

 and adapted to suit differences in 

 character and climate And it was in 

 this adapting of the method to the needs 

 of English children that the Runton 

 experiment proved most valuable. 



Difficulties were overcome and pro- 

 blems solved, with the result that the 

 little Norfolk class is to-day a striking 

 example of what the Montessori system 

 can do for English children, and a 

 practical refutation of the objection that 

 a system invented by an Italian woman 

 for Italian children is unsuited for those 

 of another race. 



AMONG POOR CHILDREN AND RICH. 



For seven months Miss Lidbetter lived 

 and worked at Runton. Then, fortified 

 by this valuable experience, it was felt 

 that the moment had come for trans- 

 planting her to the sphere of work for 

 which the committee had ultimately 

 intended her— viz., an infant class in a 

 public elementary school. Leaving the 

 Runton class in charge of a capable and 



sympathetic assistant, who had worked 

 with her there for some months previous 

 to her departure, Miss Lidbetter started 

 work at the beginning of April. 191 3, in 

 a village school in Buckinghamshire, 

 under the control of the Count v Educa- 

 tion Committee. There she is now en- 

 gaged in the interesting and important 

 work of adapting the Montessori s\-stem 

 to the exigencies of the public elemen- 

 tary school, and may all success attend 

 her efforts. 



But it must not be thought that Miss 

 Lidbetter's work represents the sum. total 

 of Montessori achievement in England 

 during the past twelve months. A fel- 

 low student of Miss Lidbetter's in 

 Rome, Miss Dufresne, came to England 

 in the autumn of 191 2 and was engaged 

 by an American lady, Mrs. Saunderson 

 of Lyndhurst, to direct a Montessori 

 class made up of her own children and 

 those of neighbouring friends. It is in- 

 teresting to note that of the two classes 

 being conducted simultaneously in Eng- 

 land, one consisted of children of the 

 working classes and the other of those 

 of the well-to-do. 



In each case the experiment was an 

 undoubted sviccess^ proving that the 

 Montessori system is not one for poor or 

 for rich, but for all children, whether 

 they come from palace or from hovel. 

 And, in this fact, and in the larger 

 humanity and wider sympathies which 

 self -education creates may we not hope 

 for a solution of many of the vexed 

 social problems of this unquiet age? 



A " LABORATORY TEST." 



I will now touch on the Fielden ex- 

 periment at Manchester, the result of 

 which was made known by Professor 

 Findlay in an address given by him 

 last March at the College of Preceptors. 

 Professor Findlay confessed at the out- 

 set that he and his colleagues had under- 

 taken with considerable misgiving what 

 they described as a " laborator\- test "of 

 the Montessori method. They came to 

 the work somewhat prejudiced against 

 the Dottoressa's system, but ready to 

 give it what they considered a fair trial. 



And here it must be remarked that 

 prejudiced, uns}mpalhetic teachers were 

 Iiardly likel)- to get the best results from 



