Peer-reviewed article
MONTESSORI APPROACH IN CHARACTER EDUCATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Shelly Yulia , Tri Joko Raharjo , Fakhruddin , Ali Formen ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study surveyed 112 early childhood education teachers in Indonesia to understand their knowledge of character education and the Montessori method. Teachers reported understanding the importance of character education and how the Montessori approach integrates character development across six aspects of early childhood development. The research found that while schools often prioritize cognitive ability, character education can be effectively delivered through continuous processes at every educational level.
Key points
- ECE teachers demonstrated understanding of character education's importance
- The Montessori Method was recognized as integrated into 6 aspects of early childhood development
- Character education aims to form strong and noble human beings through imprinting good values
- Schools typically emphasize cognitive abilities over character education
- Character education requires continuous processes at every educational level
Limitations
This study only measures teachers' reported understanding through survey responses; it does not assess actual classroom implementation, student outcomes, or the effectiveness of character education practices in real educational settings.
Abstract
Character education is an effort to form good values imprinted in a person and manifested in the form of behavior so they can distinguish themselves from others. This character education aims to form a strong and noble human being. All educational institutions realize how important the development of character education is for students in their institutions. However, the process of character education has not been fully able to run effectively in all educational institutions because schools emphasize more on increasing students' cognitive abilities. This study aimed to obtain an overview of the extent to which teachers understand the importance of character education in Early Childhood Education (ECE) and the Montessori Method in shaping the character of students. This study is quantitative with a descriptive approach. The sample in this study was ECE teachers in Panongan Sub-district, Tangerang Regency, totaling 112 people. The selection of samples was done using the Simple Random Sampling method. The instrument used was a survey distributed to respondents via Google form. The results of the study indicate that ECE teachers have understood the importance of character education and the Montessori Method which is integrated into 6 aspects of early childhood development through a character education process that is provided continuously at every level.