montessori integrative learning
The Essence of Montessori Integrative Learning
A Curriculum Rooted in Right Action, Awareness, and Love
This program welcomes learners into an environment where education means more than knowledge—it is the living art of deep awareness, understanding, and loving action. We recognize the profound interconnectedness of all life, and seek to prepare educators for living in harmony with self, others, and the Earth.
Learning here is fundamentally relational. Each adult learner is seen in their wholeness; educators practice presence and keen observation, attuned to the unfolding of each individual. Our work begins with cultivating inner peace and stretches outward—nurturing right relationship to community, society, and the natural world.
We trust in the wisdom of the child, whose innate curiosity and capacity for love shape authentic learning. Early experiences are honored as the foundations of character and conscious awareness. Children in Montessori environments have freedom within limits: the freedom to explore, reflect, and construct meaning through direct experience, as well as the guidance of a teacher-guide who balances inquiry with lessons that have both direct and indirect aims.
Educating for right action is central. Every encounter—whether practical or intellectual—is an opportunity to practice responsibility, creativity, and care. Students learn that their choices matter, not just for themselves, but for the well-being of others and the living planet.
TIES’ curriculum integrates embodied learning: engagement, reflection, and expression based on new understanding. This journey of discovery is supported by overarching contexts that are lenses for the essence of Montessori. Each student follows a spiral pathway that leads to deeper awareness of self and other.
Indigenous wisdom and scientific insight come together, offering practical frameworks for reciprocity, stewardship, and healing. This knowledge is lived, not abstract—supporting right action and compassionate relationship for a just and sustainable world.
Above all, this program offers the possibility of discovering what Montessori meant by the “evolution of a new human.” It is educating not just for living wisely and compassionately in a world of complexity and beauty. Every learner is called to grow in insight, humility, and love—shaping a future of personal responsibility and true belonging.
Create Your Individual Focus
Students at The Institute for Educational Studies (TIES) have great freedom to follow their personal, “cosmic task.” It all starts with choosing one of four emphasis areas, then discovering a deeper experience as studies unfold.
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“Montessori Integrative Learning is a love story with the Universe.”
~Sarah Etherington, TIES Graduate
Who was Maria Montessori?
Maria Montessori was born in 1870. Throughout her early years she wanted to be a medical doctor, claiming she would never be a teacher. After focusing on the sciences and engineering during her secondary years she decided to enter Medical school. Turned away by the establishment she persisted until she gained entry.
Her initial work was with mentally challenged children in a psychiatric ward. Through her observations she determined that they were sensorially-deprived so she extended the ideas of Seguin and Itard by providing materials for the children to manipulate. In time, these hospitalized children learned to read and write at advanced levels. Her work gained world-wide attention.
After 30 years of observing children in her “prepared environments” she became increasingly aware of the profound possibilities for the development of a “new” personality… one that had the potential for seeding a “new humnanity’ that would be capable of building a “new world” at peace. (International Congress at Oxford, 1936).
From 1939 through 1946, Montessori lived with her son, Mario in India. Originally planning for a six-month vist to offer courses for teachers, the Montessoris were unable to return to Europe because of World War II. During those years she wrote her most seminal works: To Educate the Human Potential, Education for a New World, Education and Peace and The Absorbent Mind. These and more, taken as a whole, bring us to the realization that Montessori education holds the potential for changing the human journey during the 21st century.
