The following article appeared in the Koori Mail on 15 December 2004.

Education with a difference

A husband-and-wife team specialising in Montessori QLD education has addressed the annual meeting of the Association of Independent Schools, Queensland, Indigenous Education conference in Brisbane.

Joel Rioux and wife Jennifer, from Wadja Wadja High School (Woorabinda, central Queensland), were asked to speak at the conference about the Montessori work in their classrooms.

The Riouxs have been trained by Association Montessori Internationale, which is the mother association for Montessori teachers.

They presented a talk on using Montessori in an Indigenous community and how this approach helped students.

The Montessori philosophy of education is used not only in Australia but also in many other countries and has been around for nearly 100 years. It has also had success in other Indigenous communities (South Africa, India, Cambodia, etcetera).

In Australia, Indigenous students and Montessori philosophy co-exist in very few environments: There is one Montessori classroom within a State school at Cairns West Primary school for the 3-6-yearolds, one Montessori school in Sydney (Redfern (0-6-year-olds) and the class at Woorabinda (13-14-year-olds).

Montessori is a hands-on approach to learning whereby the students use concrete materials to aid their learning. They make their own choices from Montessori educational materials that are set up on shelves around the room. The students take responsibility for their own learning; they are able to work individually or in small groups, at desks or on the floor and ultimately the students not only develop their self-esteem but they also have a relationship with the teacher that is based on mutual respect.

At the Brisbane conference, Mr and Mrs Rioux talked about some major components of the Montessori system (the physical environment, the Montessori material and the prepared adult), as well as the Montessori principles and some practical aspects of their work at Woorabinda.

The Montessori learning environment works well because it respects where the student is at, as well as following the student's interests. It is also a very flexible, caring and nurturing environment where social, emotional, spiritual and intellectual needs are always taken into account. The students are always encouraged to work at their own pace and 'work' is not imposed on the student.

Mr and Mrs Rioux have found that Indigenous students who may have low self-esteem or be afraid of making mistakes, blossom in the Montessori environment.

So far, with Montessori, they have seen students' self-esteem developing significantly.

"They really enjoy using the materials, having a go and having fun at the same time," they said.

"As a result, we have seen an increase in class participation and attendance at Wadja Wadja High.

"At the conference we were very happy to see so many people attending our talk. The participants said they went away feeling inspired and that they would like to implement some of the ideas into their classrooms.

"We believe that if students are happy, feel accepted, respected and are given choices in the classroom, they will not only feel valued as a person but will want to learn and hopefully as a result, will grow into responsible, confident and happy human beings.