Discipline and obdeince are words that is used in probably every society in all parts of the world. They have different meanings and there will be a far scale of what each of these means within all communities. The traditional meaning of discipline according to According to oxforddictionaries.com, the definition of discipline is “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behaviour, using punishment to correct disobedience” (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition /english/discipline, date accessed 5/4/16). The definition of obedience is given as “compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another’s authority” (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/obedience, date accessed 5/4/16).. Whereas when imagining a Montessori classroom people may think of children doing what they like when they like, this is a common idea amongst non Montessori teachers I have talked with. Maria Montessori said ‘A child who concentrates is immensely happy’ (Montessori, 1988 p249). Therefore when someone who is unfamiliar with how a Montessori nursery is structured they comment on how remarkable it is that a three or four year old child is concentrating on a talk for a longer period of time. Montessori observed children and through these observations found that the discipline and obideince to concentrate come from within the child, instead of something that is coming from the teacher. She discovered this is part of the Hormé the unconscious will power or life force energy) (Montessori. 1988) that drives the childs development, and that the discipline and obedience in the child leads to self mastery from which they gain immense happiness.

Therefore within the Montessori philosophy discipline can be explained as being self discipline. This is not something that is a process of simply telling the child what to do and how to behave is the process