Effective Interpersonal Communication Skills in Montessori Education

This report presents a case study of a Montessori school, focusing on leadership challenges, communication gaps, and management issues. The school is run by a family with an autocratic leadership style, leading to dissatisfaction among teachers, a lack of collaboration, and issues with classroom structure. The report identifies the conflict, analyzes the shortcomings of autocratic leadership, and proposes collaborative leadership as a solution. It emphasizes the importance of interpersonal communication skills, including effective listening, two-way communication, relationship development, non-verbal communication, and asking questions. An action plan is outlined to address the issues, including restructuring classrooms and improving communication. The report concludes with a reflection on the author's experiences and insights gained from the case study, highlighting the need for a shift towards a more inclusive and collaborative leadership approach to improve the school's environment and effectiveness.

Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Interpersonal Communication Skill
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s Note

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Executive Summary
This report is based on a case study of a Montessori education system and the conflict in
management in that particular institution. An examination has been done on the differing values,
beliefs, roles and responsibilities of the leaders. Certain issues came up in management
leadership that needs immediate attention. The report will be focusing on the issues of the
Montessori education under study and propose solution for the case. A comprehensive and in-
depth reflection of the case is given in the final part of the report for the reader to understand the
intensity of the issue.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background of the Case...................................................................................................................3
Identification of the Conflict...........................................................................................................4
Brief description of the Autocratic leadership.................................................................................5
Required leadership for managing the situation..............................................................................5
Effective listening........................................................................................................................6
Two way communication.............................................................................................................6
Developing Relationship..............................................................................................................6
Non-verbal Communication.........................................................................................................7
Asking Question...........................................................................................................................7
Action Plan......................................................................................................................................7
Reflection.........................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Reference.......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
The case under study is a Montessori school. It is basically a model of human
development and educational approach based the model. This system of education of children
follows two basic principles. First, the school is for the children under age of six and has an
innate path of psychological development of the children. Second, it follows the process where
developing adults and children interact with their environment in order to develop psychological
self-construction (Randolph, Rosenstein & Michaels, 2014; Lillard, 2013). A detailed description
and situation of the organization is provided in the report followed by a detailed description of
the conflicts are provided. Suggestions are given in the final part of the case study to improve the
situation in the organization. A comprehensive and in-depth reflection of the case is provided for
better understanding for the reader. It will be covering the experiences and significant events that
made impact on the author.
Background of the Case
The center under study is run by a family of mother, daughter and son, where the mother
is the director, daughter is the principle and the son is the manager of the institution. Authority of
decision making lies only with the director of the institution and no other person has any say in
the matter. There is a clear communication gap between the director and the rest of the body. For
that reason, no amount of hard work from our side is ever enough to satisfy them.
I am a senior teacher in the institution. Like any other Montessori, this center also follows
the mix classroom structure which is fundamental of Montessori education. But the issue lies in
the management and poor leadership of the institution. There is also a sure shortage of manpower

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in the institution. Here, the classrooms comprises of children from age of 2.5 years to 6 year
which is too long for and improper. The actual arrangement should be a mixture of 2-3 years as it
involves free activity within a prepared environment with educational environment tailored to
basic human characteristic and the specific characteristics of children at different stage. Hence, it
is understandable that the age gap of the mix classroom in the case creates chaos. The classrooms
are not functional and fail in allowing the children to develop according to their own inner
psychological directives. Boredom of the children can be noticed with the work material
provided for them. This chaos lead to an unclean environment, therefore, is hardly conductive to
order in the whole school. Certain changes are required in order to gain harmony and beauty of
the center. The classrooms should be divided according to the Montessori segmentation and have
an environment that emphasized materials and activities scaled to the children’s ability to
develop movement and independence instead of occupying them with something for the sake.
Identification of the Conflict
From the above description of the case, it is clear that the leadership that runs into my
organization is autocratic leadership. There is a clear communication gap between the
management and the teachers of the organization which supplemented for the situation that
arose. The teachers are definitely not happy with the situation. They seek more participation in
the decision making for the institution. Another issue that can be identified is the shortage of
manpower in the organization. We need more manpower to in the organization to cope up with
the issue, but the director is strict about not recruiting any more staffs. This leadership
inefficiency and communication gap between the leader and the members are the primary cause
of the chaos in the school. The Montessori needs a new management style to regain the stability.
Moreover, she is seeking help from the management and senior teachers to stabilize the

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condition. Therefore, the director and I had a meeting about the need of new system and
challenges that might occur in the process. This
Brief description of the Autocratic leadership
Autocratic leadership is also termed as authoritarian leadership. It is identified by the
individual control over all decision of the organization where others have little or no input in it.
The acceptance of ideas from the group members is rarely granted and the decisions are based on
the leader’s ideas and judgments. The members are rarely trusted in taking decisions or
important tasks. Out of the box thinking and creativity is always discouraged and the members
have to follow the dictated structure by the leader. This brings resentment among the group
members. People may dislike the decision that is imposed by the leader. This also impairs the
morale of the group as the members start to feel dissatisfied and stifled (Rast III, Hogg &
Giessner, 2013; Dinh et al., 2014).
Required leadership for managing the situation
There is a clear need of change in the leadership style to manage and bring back the
beauty and harmony in the center for which, collaborative leadership style is best suited. This
type seeks assistance from the members and allows them to present their view in the meeting.
The welcomed views from the members are considered before implementing the necessary
arrangements in the organization (Orchard & Rykhoff, 2015; Broome & Marshall, 2016).
Interpersonal communication skill is required in order to implement this kind of leadership in the
Early Childhood Education and Care or ECCE I am working in. It can help in handling the
situation and provide a positive outcome. As a leader, I need to use the knowledge and skills of

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interpersonal communication (Lane, 2016). Now relate the case with the interpersonal
communication and collaborative leadership and propose possible solution.
In this type, people exchange information, meaning and feelings through non-verbal or
verbal modes (Castaneda, 2016). It can also be the sharing of information among the team
members. Various skills are required to properly conduct the interpersonal communication
among the group members. To overcome the failure of the current management and leader, as a
leader I need to use the skills to bring changes in the Montessori. Some important skills and
knowledge are required to deal with the case in hand.
Effective listening
Effective listening is an important part of interpersonal communication. I need to adopt
the skill to work effectively as a leader, what is missing in current leaders as they don’t bother to
listen to the teachers. Jumping to conclusions without completely listening to the matter should
be avoided at with utmost priority (Tyagi, 2013; dartmouth.edu., 2017). I should listen to all the
members of the school and take all the views into consideration before taking decision. Also
need to seek for help from the knowledgeable people.
Two way communication
Two way communications is essential in the interpersonal communication. As a leader, I
need to engage the group members in this type of communication in order to have a flow of idea
that can bring changes in the institution (Berger, 2014).
Developing Relationship
Relationship development is another skill that needs to be acquired. It can help in the
process of interviewing. I will have a short period of time to make a positive first impression.

7EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Developing this skill will help me interviewing the teachers and the management and seek their
opinion on the matter before taking any decision. This process will help to make them believe
that their opinions are valued by the management which will in term create healthy relation in the
school (Fussell & Kreuz, 2014; repec.org, 2017).
Non-verbal Communication
Nonverbal communication is another important skill used in interpersonal
communication. Here, I need to understand and read the face of my colleagues to have an idea if
the conversation is transparent or they are having trouble understanding (Adler, Rodman &
DuPré, 2016).
Asking Question
Asking questions or opinion of the members on a daily basis is important. Then I will be
able to have a clear idea of the satisfaction level of the teachers in the center.
In the case of the Montessori, I use these skills with collaboration with Mediation,
Interview, Oral Presentation and Conflict Management for handling. The first thing that I need to
do is the conflict management, where I identified the issue of the conflict. As the leader of the
school, it responsibility vested in me to handle the issue and bring required changes. For that
process, it was wise to take interview of the colleagues, mediation and oral presentation to
resolve the issue. Interview helped to understand the teachers’ perspective of the issue and oral
presentation helped to communicate with the members and describe the steps taken in order to
change.

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Action Plan
From the above case, it is necessary to implement an action plan to change the system
and bring working environment in the school.
First of all, the mix classroom has to be divided into parts. Children under age group 2-3
year will be separated from the rest of the children and put in one class. This way, they will have
more opportunity to represent and develop their skills. 4-6 year students will be put into a
separate class.
The course will be set accordingly with their interest and level, so that no child will be
left bored. The current system of working will be replaced by target based model, where course
will be set according to the purpose and necessary.
The communication between the teachers and the management, which is absent in the
current scenario, will be established to bring the best outcome for the school. Opinion of all will
be taken into consideration (Andrews, 2017).
Reflection
Reflection provides the detailed understanding of the case from the author’s point of
view. Significant issues and event that I faced during the case will be discussed in the following
part. The purpose of the reflection section is to provide the reader with a firsthand experience of
the case.
The main problem that has been identified in the in the case is the communication
problem. The current management in the institution is autocratic, which needs to be changed as it
does not work in a Montessori. I think it needs to be replaced by collaborative leadership style.

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According to my opinion, there are barriers created by the management to keep the teaching
staffs and the management staffs separated. All the decisions and taken by the management
without consulting with the teachers who actually participate in running the school and handling
the children. Their opinion should be given utmost priority. Another issue in the school is the
mix classroom system that varies from other Montessori. The present structure should be
replaced by the normal structure as proposed in the case analysis.
As the director has appointed me in the position of management to bring changes in the
Montessori, it was important for me to consider different leadership style and implement the best
suited implement in the matter. In the process of learning leadership styles and skills, I came to
know about the necessity skills required for becoming a leader is the closely related to the daily
life. I found many of my skills and knowledge helpful in operating the as the leader with the help
of interpersonal communication. My effective listening skill, relationship buildup ability gave
me an advantage in the case. On the other hand, the teachers of the school showed many
expectations from their new leader. It is in my positive ground that they match with my
leadership style. They expect to play more active role in decision making for the betterment of
the school. They also seek more interaction with the leader.
As mentioned earlier in the report, collaborative leadership demands various
interpersonal skills. In order to properly play the role of a leader, in needed to learn and brush-up
different skills that was required in this scenario. It gave me the opportunity to implement my
expert listening skills and relationship build-up skill which is essential. Moreover, these skills are
also mandatory for a school teacher to perform their duty. On to it, different skills like two way
communication, nonverbal communication, and opinion seeking method was necessary for me to
learn. These skills are not only essential for leadership, but also effective in the field of teaching.

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The challenges that are identified in the case are very common leadership management
issues that can be often seen. These are some obvious reasons for the failure of a company or
organization. Primarily, the current leadership management in practice is totally inappropriate for
this setting which in this case is a Montessori. Autocratic management can never be used in a
school setting. The primary challenge that I could identify is the communication gap. The gap is
created by the management with the teacher due to their chosen style of leadership. As a leader,
my primary duty will be to change the leadership style in practice and replace it with a more
communicative one which is collaborative leadership style. Different approaches that are
mentioned in the text needs to be utilized in resolving the issue. Relation building method,
effective listening, two way communication, developing relationship method and nonverbal
communication are some of the examples that are mentioned and I think will be useful in
resolving the issue. It will help to bridge the gap between management and the teaching staffs of
the school, which will result in better management of the school. This step is necessary as the
teachers understand the needs of the school better than the management. It is observed that the
poor decision from the management part of including the age group 2-6 years in one mix
classroom created chaos in the school and disturbed the environment. The teachers understand
the situation and know what needs to be done where the current management fails. Hence, the
teachers are to be included to resolve the problem and their opinion will be given priority.
Considering the current situation of the institute, I proposed an action plan which
includes the teachers for solving similar issues. It advocates their engagement for understanding
the issues in the mix classroom atmosphere as they are the ones in it. So it is of absolute
necessity. Secondly, the class will be separated for the age group 2-3 years and 3-6 years as they
require different attentions. I think it will provide more opportunity for them to represent and

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develop their skills and knowledge. Finally, the course will be set in accordance with the level of
the students. The correct course will help them to show better response and develop faster. For
this, the involvement of the teaching faculties is of absolute necessity.
The case has supplemented a great deal in growing my skills as a leader. To be more
specific, it increased my interpersonal and intrapersonal skills as these are the prime requirement
for becoming a good leader in this context. Some of the pre inhabited skills such as relationship
development and effective listening skills are brushed up thanks to this case as they are of
absolute necessary for achieving this level of leadership. On to it, the some others skills I had to
learn in the process are two way communication, nonverbal communication and interview
method. These skills have proven much help in the course of this case. I believe these are not
limited in this field and it will also come handy in the future life.
Conclusion
From the above case study analysis, it can be concluded that the Montessori under study
is in need of new leadership which has been discussed thoroughly in the text. A thorough
description of the analysis of the case is given in the report. Identification of the issue in the
management is also highlighted in the report. The proposal of the solution is suggested in the
report is based on the issues and reflect the accordingly. At the end of the report, a reflection is
provided for the reader to get a proper firsthand idea of the scenario.