The Bloomsbury Handbook of Montessori Education 9781350275607, 9781350275638, 9781350275614

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The Bloomsbury Handbook of Montessori Education

ALSO AVAILABLE FROM BLOOMSBURY The Bloomsbury Handbook of Global Education and Learning, edited by Douglas Bourn The Bloomsbury Handbook of Culture and Identity from Early Childhood to Early Adulthood, edited by Ruth Wills, Marian de Souza, Jennifer Mata-McMahon, Mukhlis Abu Bakar and Cornelia Roux Historical Perspectives on Infant Care and Development, Amanda Norman Observing Children From Birth to 6, Carole Sharman, Wendy Cross and Diana Vennis Qualitative Studies of Exploration in Childhood Education, edited by Marilyn Fleer, Mariane Hedegaard, Elin Eriksen Ødegaard and Hanne Værum Sørensen Reflective Teaching in Early Education, Jennifer Colwell and Amanda Ince with Helen Bradford, Helen Edwards, Julian Grenier, Eleanor Kitto, Eunice Lumsden, Catriona McDonald, Juliet Mickelburgh, Mary Moloney, Sheila Nutkins, Ioanna Palaiologou, Deborah Price and Rebecca Swindells Postdevelopmental Approaches to Childhood Art, edited by Mona Sakr and Jayne Osgood Education for Social Change, Douglas Bourn

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Montessori Education EDITED BY Angela K. Murray, Eva-Maria Tebano Ahlquist, Maria K. McKenna, and Mira Debs

BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2023 Copyright © Angela K. Murray, Eva-Maria Tebano Ahlquist, Maria K. McKenna and Mira Debs and contributors, 2023 Angela K. Murray, Eva-Maria Tebano Ahlquist, Maria K. McKenna and Mira Debs have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work. For legal purposes the Acknowledgments on p. xxiii constitute an extension of this copyright page. Cover design: Grace Ridge Cover image © Hilma af Klint artwork, The Ten Largest, No 3 Youth. steeve-x-art / Alamy Stock Photo All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: HB: 978-1-3502-7560-7 ePDF: 978-1-3502-7561-4 eBook: 978-1-3502-7562-1 Typeset by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters.

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Contents

List of Figures

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Foreword Yong Zhao

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Preface Mira Debs, Angela K. Murray, Eva Maria Tebano Ahlquist, and Maria K. McKennaxvi Acknowledgmentsxxiii PART I  FOUNDATIONS AND EVOLUTION OF MONTESSORI EDUCATION

Introduction: Foundations and Evolution of Montessori Education Maria K. McKenna

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1 Maria Montessori: Life and Historical Context Christine Quarfood

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2 The Scientific Feminism of Maria Montessori Valeria P. Babini

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3 Cosmic Education: The Vital Center of the Montessori Perspective Rossella Raimondo

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4 The Philosophy of Maria Montessori Patrick R. Frierson

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PART II  KEY WRITINGS OF MARIA MONTESSORI

Introduction: Key Writings of Maria Montessori Eva-Maria Tebano Ahlquist

5 Origins of the Pedagogy: The Montessori Method and The Discovery of the Child Paola Trabalzini

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6 School Years: The Advanced Montessori Method and From Childhood to Adolescence Clara Tornar

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7 What Is Childhood? The Child in the Family, The Secret of Childhood, and The Absorbent Mind Carmela Franzese

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8 Math and Grammar: Psychoarithmetic, Psychogeometry, and Psychogrammar Benedetto Scoppola and Clara Tornar

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9 Peace Education: Education and Peace Stephanie Van Hook

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10 Philosophical Writings: Education for a New World, To Educate the Human Potential, and The Formation of Man Raniero Regni

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11 Societal Responsibility and the Child: The Child, Society and the World: Unpublished Speeches and Writings Per Gynther

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PART III  MONTESSORI PEDAGOGY ACROSS THE LIFESPAN

Introduction: Montessori Pedagogy across the Lifespan Eva-Maria Tebano Ahlquist

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12 Learning in the Montessori School Environment Eva-Maria Tebano Ahlquist

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13 The Montessori Approach to Children 0–3 Years Based on Grazia Honegger Fresco’s Studies Sara Honegger

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14 The Children’s House for Children Ages 3–6 Uma Ramani

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15 The Montessori Elementary School for Children Ages 6–12 William (Biff) Maier

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16 Erdkinder: An Educational Approach for Adolescents Ages 12–15 Ela Eckert

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17 Adult Formation to Transformation Jaroslaw Jendza

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PART IV  THE SCIENCE OF MONTESSORI EDUCATION

Introduction: The Science of Montessori Education Angela K. Murray

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18 Revisiting the Foundations of Montessori Education from a Modern Neuroscience Perspective Mara Fabri

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19 A Logic Model for Informing Montessori Research Brooke Culclasure and Sally Morris Cote

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20 Fidelity Issues in Montessori Research Angela K. Murray and Carolyn Daoust

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21 Evaluating the Efficacy of Montessori Education Karen Manship

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22 Assessment in Montessori Education Susan Zoll, Laura Saylor, and Arya Ansari

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23 Neuroscience of Error Monitoring in the Montessori Context Solange Denervaud

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24 A Critical Consideration of Montessori Education in Its Relation to Cognitive Science and Concrete-to-Abstract Thinking Elida V. Laski and Muanjing Julia Wang

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25 Executive Functions in Montessori Education Jan Mallett

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26 Motivation and Self-Determination in Montessori Education Abha Basargekar and Angeline S. Lillard

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27 Montessori Education, Optimal Experience, and Flow Kevin Rathunde

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PART V  GLOBAL MONTESSORI EDUCATION

Introduction: Global Montessori Education Mira Debs

28 Montessori Education in Italy Erica Moretti

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29 Montessori Education in the Netherlands Jaap de Brouwer, Hélène Leenders, and Patrick Sins

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30 Montessori Education in the UK Barbara Isaacs and Hannah Baynham

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31 Montessori Education in Ireland Tia Williams and Kate Stephens

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32 Montessori Education in Nordic Countries Petter Sandgren and Eva-Maria Tebano Ahlquist

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33 Montessori Education in Germany Jörg Boysen

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34 Montessori Education in Eastern Europe Jaroslaw Jendza

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35 Montessori Education in Africa: Themes and Examples across the Continent Amelia J. Murray, Hala Aboulela, Aicha Sajid, Noyenum Emafo, and Mira Debs

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36 Montessori Education in Tanzania Kerstin Forsberg, Hans Forsberg, Joyce Mbuya, and Shose Ngowi

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37 Montessori Education in Kenya Francescah Kipsoi

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38 AMI Educateurs sans Frontières Fay Hendriksen, Joke Verheul, and Elske Voermans

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39 Montessori Education in Saudi Arabia Lila A. Alhashim and Ilene Berson

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40 Montessori Education in India Rukmini Ramachandran and Mira Debs

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41 Montessori Education in Southeast and East Asia Saket Malhotra, Kannekar Butt, and Mai P. Nghiêm

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42 Montessori Education in China Jie Chen and Yu Liu

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43 Montessori Education in Japan Kimiko Kai

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44 Montessori Education in Australia Lesley Payne

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45 Montessori Education in Canada Margaret Whitley

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46 Montessori Education in the United States Katie Brown and Richard Ungerer

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47 Montessori Education in Puerto Rico Ana María García Blanco and Katherine Miranda

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48 Montessori Education in Mexico Eder Cuevas

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49 Montessori Education in Latin America Joel Parham, Maria K. McKenna, and Lesli Romero

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50 Montessori Education in Brazil Marion Wallis and Paige Geiger

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51 Montessori Education in Argentina Astrid Steverlynck

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52 Future Directions for Global Montessori Research Joel Parham

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PART VI  CONTEMPORARY CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING MONTESSORI EDUCATION

Introduction: Contemporary Considerations Regarding Montessori Education Maria K. McKenna

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53 Montessori Education in the Digital Age Elizabeth K. Park and Angela K. Murray

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54 Interdependent Impact: Contemporary Teacher Education and Montessori Teacher Preparation Gay C. Ward and Paige M. Bray

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55 Montessori Education and Gender: Recasting Gender in Montessori Contexts Sid Mohandas

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56 Montessori Education and Inclusion Jennifer D. Moss and Ann Epstein

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57 Montessori Education in a Plurilingual World Susan Feez and Anne-Marie Morgan

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58 Montessori Education and Critical Race Theory in the United States Lucy Canzoneri-Golden and Juliet King

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59 Beyond Authenticity: Indigenizing Montessori Education in Settler Colonial United States Trisha Moquino, Nacole Walker, and Katie Kitchens

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60 Montessori Education and Multilingualism Kateri Carver

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61 Montessori Education–Based Interventions for Persons with Dementia Cameron J. Camp and Evan G. Shelton

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62 Montessori Education: Ecoliteracy, Sustainability, and Peace Education Maria K. McKenna

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List of Contributors 553 Glossary559 Index563

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Figures

  1.1 Maria Montessori in Rome, 1914. Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Nelis R. Kampenga University Archives   1.2 Maria Montessori leading a 1914 training course in Rome, reprinted in Feminel: Illustrario Catalano, July 26, 1914, 88: 3   1.3 Maria and Mario Montessori in India, 1940. Courtesy of the Maria Montessori Archives, Amsterdam   5.1 Children in the original San Lorenzo Casa dei Bambini at work. Reproduced from the Montessori Method, 1913. Courtesy of Biblioteca dell’Opera Nazionale Montessori   7.1 Child with cylinder blocks. Photo courtesy of Carmela Franzese   8.1 Number Rods. Illustration by Eva-Maria Tebano Ahlquist   8.2 The proof of Pythagoras’s theorem. Illustration by Eva-Maria Tebano Ahlquist   8.3 The noun family: Article noun adjective. Sketch by Maria Montessori. Courtesy of the Maria Montessori Archives, photo section, Amsterdam 12.1 Girl working with bells, Holliday Montessori School, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Courtesy of Jennifer Baker Powers 12.2 The Montessori Lived Environment. Illustration by the author 15.1 Elementary students at Lexington Montessori School practice multiplication with the decimal Checkerboard, 2019. Courtesy of Biff Maier 16.1 Preparing a meal. Courtesy of Roman Klune 19.1 Montessori logic model. Image courtesy of the author 22.1 Adapted observation diagrams, or work curves, representing the three-hour work cycles of two students. Courtesy of the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector (NCMPS), adapted from Spontaneous Activity in Education, Maria Montessori, 1917 23.1 Peer learning in a Montessori classroom, using self-correcting materials. Courtesy of Ecole Montessori Vevey 24.1 Elementary student works on Math exercises at Fruitful Orchard School, Lagos, Nigeria. Courtesy of Junnifa Uzodike 26.1 Types of motivation described by the self-determination theory. Image courtesy of the authors 26.2 Montessori system’s support for intrinsic motivation through the fulfillment of the three self-determination needs. Image courtesy of the authors   V.1 A total of 148 countries in 2020 with Montessori schools. Courtesy of Association Montessori Internationale

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54 73 83 83 87 119 124 149 163 194

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Figures

  V.2 A student at Fruitful Orchard Montessori, Lagos, Nigeria, completes the Pink Tower Brown Stair extension, with some help from a teacher, while her classmates cheer her on. Photo courtesy of Junnifa Uzodike 28.1 Children’s House in a popular building on via delle Rottole run by Umanitaria, Milan, 1913. Courtesy of Biblioteca dell’Opera Nazionale Montessori 29.1 Class photo from the sixth Montessori school, Amsterdam, 1938, by J. M. Bakels. Anne Frank was also a student at this school. Courtesy of the Jewish Museum, Amsterdam 30.1 Students at the Gatehouse school use the nave of the St. Bartholomew’s church as a classroom. School founder and the rector’s wife, Phyllis Wallbank, is in the back of the photo, 1951. Courtesy of Topfoto 30.2 Gatehouse Montessori classes are also held outside in the courtyard among the gravestones, 1951. Courtesy of Topfoto 31.1 Maria Montessori visits St. Otteran’s school, Waterford, 1927. Courtesy of the Maria Montessori Archives, Amsterdam 32.1 Children in Ida Sjögren’s Montessori school in Norrköping, Sweden, 1924. Courtesy of the Norrköping City Archives 32.2 Maria Montessori visits Sweden, 1950. Courtesy of the Stockholm City Museum 34.1 Two boys collaborating in Kaunas, Lithuania, 1931. Courtesy of the Lithuanian Museum of Educational History 35.1 Children working at a Montessori school in a Catholic convent in Calabar, Nigeria, 1927. Courtesy of the Maria Montessori Archives, photo section, Amsterdam 35.2 Guide Samwel Kuria works with students Junaid Mercier and Bashir Albretch at Moonflower Montessori school in the Gambia, 2021. Courtesy of Nnaceesay Marenah 35.3 Child working with materials at the Lynedoch Children’s House, South Africa, 2021. Courtesy of the Indaba Institute 36.1 Sister Bertha Kira makes Montessori materials, 2021. Courtesy of Sister Christina Nakey 37.1 Students at Corner of Hope Montessori. Courtesy of Fay Hendriksen 37.2 A teacher makes Montessori materials at St. Ann’s Montessori Teacher Training College in Nakuru, Kenya. Courtesy of Fay Hendriksen 38.1 A Corner of Hope Montessori classroom setup in a tent, Kenya. Courtesy of Fay Hendriksen 39.1 A child works on Arabic vowel letters and matches the words with the objects in a Montessori classroom, Saudi Arabia. Photo courtesy of Sara Aljindan 40.1 Children at the Women’s Indian Association Montessori School work outside in the open-air classroom under the banyan trees, Chennai, 1928. Courtesy of the Maria Montessori Archives, Amsterdam

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305 306 310 316 317 328

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336 339 344 350 351 357 362

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Figures

41.1 A preschool child in Vietnam peels a carrot as a Practical Life exercise. Courtesy of Vietnam AMI Montessori Initiative (VAMI) and Nebula Children’s Home, Vietnam 43.1 Language activity in the early 1980s at the Fukakusa Children’s House in Kyoto. Courtesy of Minako Negishi 43.2 Children playing in the bamboo grown at the Fukakusa Children’s House in Kyoto. Courtesy of Minako Negishi 44.1 Children working independently at Blackfriars Practising School, 1914, New South Wales, Australia. Courtesy of the State Library of New South Wales 44.2 Growth of Australian Montessori Schools and Centers 1976–2021. Source: Cleverley 1978; Independent Schools Australia 2011 & 2021; ACECQA. Image courtesy of the author 45.1 Child in the Piruvik Preschool doing work learning Inuktitut. Courtesy of Tessa Lochhead, Piruvik Preschool 46.1 Children working at Nancy McCormick Rambusch’s Whitby school, Greenwich, Connecticut, ca. 1959. Courtesy of the American Montessori Society Records, Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut Library 47.1 An assistant teacher with a student in Vieques. Courtesy of the Instituto Nueva Escuela 47.2 Teachers from schools across Puerto Rico demonstrate their support for public Montessori education in front of the Capitol, 2020. Courtesy of Instituto Nueva Escuela 48.1 Domingo Alba, the first AMI-trained elementary guide in Mexico, working with some of his students, 1980s. Courtesy of Montessori de Chihuahua 48.2 A student works with Math materials at Montessori de la Ciudad de México, date unknown. Courtesy of Montessori de la Ciudad de México 49.1 Rural Montessori school in Muquiyauyo, Peru, ca. 1948. Photo courtesy of the Gabriela Mistral Legacy Writer’s Archive, National Library of Chile 51.1 Children reached by Montessori education in Argentina in 2020 (N = 2654). Image courtesy of Fundación Argentina María Montessori (FAMM) 52.1 Children in Sri Lanka work in a Montessori classroom, date unknown. Courtesy of the Maria Montessori Archives, photo section, Amsterdam 59.1 Tulalip children work with Montessori letters at the Tulalip boarding school, ca. 1919. From the Indian School Journal, 1904–1926, National Archives ID 2745572. Retrieved from the National Archives Catalog, Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs 61.1 A senior with dementia works with the Montessori Binomial cube. Ryerson Clark, 2015. Courtesy of Leica Photo 62.1 Beekeeping in a Montessori Adolescent Farming Community courtesy of Good Shepherd Montessori School, South Bend, Indiana. Courtesy of Good Shepherd Montessori School

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Foreword Yong Zhao

How students are viewed in the education process defines two different paradigms. One paradigm views students as passive recipients of predetermined knowledge and skills. The other views them as agentic, autonomous, and natural learners with their own passions and interests. The former paradigm has dominated the majority of schools in the world despite decades of efforts to change it. The latter has survived but never achieved dominant status in mainstream schools, despite multiple efforts to promote it. The past few decades have witnessed dramatic growth in the paradigm that treats students as agentic, autonomous, and natural learners for a number of reasons. First, the traditional, mainstream paradigm that delivers one-size-fits-all education has proven to not serve all children well and fails too many students. Second, the advancement of technology has drastically altered society and thus demands students to be equipped with new skills and knowledge. Third, our understanding of students has improved dramatically and today the idea that students are agentic, autonomous, and natural learners is more accepted. In practice, we are witnessing increasing innovation following the paradigm focused on student-driven education. Personalization of learning has already become an aspiration for many schools (Zhao 2018). Creativity and entrepreneurial thinking have been generally accepted as necessary educational outcomes for all students (Zhao 2012; Zhao et al. 2019). Schools have begun to seriously consider students’ social and emotional health and to work on teaching students to become owners of their learning as self-determined learners (Wehmeyer and Zhao 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has furthered the movement. It has significantly disrupted traditional education; forced teachers, students, and parents to work in new models of learning; created globally accessible educational opportunities; and highlighted the importance and potential of student-directed education. As the pandemic comes to an end, however, these changes may be lost, and schools may return to what they were before. At this important moment in human history, we are facing two possibilities in education. One is to return to the past, and the other is to speed up the transformation. The publication of a handbook about Montessori education is certainly a tremendous effort to speed up the transformation. The pedagogy and philosophy of Maria Montessori are not new. In fact, they appeared over 100 years ago. But the core values of Montessori education represent the guiding principles of the paradigm of education we desire: students as agentic, autonomous, and natural learners. The pedagogy of Montessori education puts these principles in practice by making students owners of their learning. Moreover, over the past 100 years, Montessori education has continued and even expanded globally, with followers around the world.

Foreword

Research and scholarship on Montessori education have grown significantly in recent years as well, which makes The Handbook of Montessori Education possible. Edited by Drs. Angela K. Murray, Eva-Maria Tebano Ahlquist, Maria K. McKenna, and Mira Debs, this book is an amazing contribution. They have gathered contributions from a global network of scholars and practitioners in twenty-five countries. The contributions cover comprehensively the life and work of Montessori, the pedagogy of Montessori education, the adoption and spread of Montessori education, and the scientific connections of Montessori philosophy. Most important, while they faithfully present Montessori education, they are critical examiners. This book is thus much more than a promotion of Montessori education. It is a reconnection with education’s past with the future of educational transformation.

Bio Yong Zhao is a foundation distinguished professor in the School of Education at the University of Kansas and a professor of Educational Leadership at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education in Australia. He previously served as the presidential chair, associate dean, and director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education, University of Oregon, where he was also a professor in the Department of Educational Measurement, Policy, and Leadership. Prior to his work in Oregon, Yong Zhao was university distinguished professor at the College of Education, Michigan State University, where he also served as the founding director of the Center for Teaching and Technology, executive director of the Confucius Institute, and executive director of the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Education and a fellow of the International Academy of Education.

References Wehmeyer, Michael, and Yong Zhao. 2020. Teaching Students to Become Self-Determined Learners. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Zhao, Yong. 2012. World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Zhao, Yong. 2018. Reach for Greatness: Personalizable Education for All Children. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Zhao, Yong, and Trina E. Emler, Anthony Snethen, and Danquig Yin. 2019. An Education Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste: How Radical Changes Can Spark Student Excitement and Success. New York: Teachers College Press.

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Preface Mira Debs, Angela K. Murray, Eva Maria Tebano Ahlquist, and Maria K. McKenna

From the extreme dangers of our days, the vision is born of the necessity that [humans] should with their conscious will and with their sentiment, seek to find the “adaptation” to present conditions, thus forming one universal harmonious society. This is the aspiration to which today humanity clings, urged by the supreme appeal of seeking its own salvation. But how to attain this if not through a “direct preparation” of the new generation, i.e., through education? —Maria Montessori, The Child, Society and the World, 1989, 110 With the multitude of crises facing education worldwide, this volume seeks to address the changing political, social, and technological terrain through the lens of one approach, Montessori education.1 It is a compilation of works that traces Montessori education from its historical roots to current scholarship and contemporary issues of culture, social justice, and environmentalism. We hope it will inspire new research, expand practice, and serve a diverse and global population of children and families. We begin by acknowledging the volatility of a world grappling with a global pandemic and ongoing geopolitical challenges. Over the past century, Montessori education has come to the forefront as a solution to education-based challenges as well as a response to a world in great need of peacemakers and innovators. From the outset, Maria Montessori wished for her model of education to be widely used and understood. Within a decade of the opening of her first Casa dei Bambini (Children’s House) in Rome in 1907, her pedagogical tools and philosophy had reached across the globe. Historically, Montessori organizations have estimated upward of 22,000 Montessori schools globally (Whitescarver and Cossentino 2008). Today, one Montessori organization, the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) documents Montessori schools in 148 countries, and a recent global census estimates nearly 15,800 Montessori schools around the world (Debs et al. 2022). The number of Montessori schools globally underscores the relevance of the approach as we continue to grapple with educational access and the fundamental purposes of schooling. Montessori education is, in part, a response to twentieth-century efforts to model the classroom on factories delivering learning in efficient units to “raw materials (children)” (Cubberley 1916, 338). In contrast to this, a central tenet of Maria Montessori’s work was that all children have the capacity to be independent and to contribute meaningfully to their communities—a view she shared with other contemporary education reformers around the world. Her first work was with children with cognitive delays; she then worked with children from low-income families. Building off many influences in the scientific, anthropological, and educational communities,

Preface

Montessori created classroom environments outfitted with inviting materials that could support children working on their own and with peers of multiple ages over an open-ended period (Tebano Ahlquist 2012). Simultaneously, she developed a system of teacher training that envisioned a radically different kind of teacher, one whose job was not to direct at the front of the classroom, but instead to be an observing guide who partnered with the child to create a learning environment and a series of learning repertoires that cultivated their unique development. For a variety of reasons, Montessori created an infrastructure to develop this training largely separate from traditional, university-based teacher training schools, while working to create a permanent university training program of her own. Maria Montessori’s pedagogy, as explained through her writings and lectures, is based on her scientific training, using systematic observation and careful documentation of children’s behaviors, dispositions, and preferences in the educational environments she created. Yet despite the integrity of her work and the global spread of the Montessori method throughout much of the twentieth century, it is often disregarded or mentioned only in passing in traditional teacher training and in psychology, developmental theory, and educational philosophy courses. We further explore the reasons for this in Part V (“Global Reach of Montessori”). But it should be noted that even in her own time, Montessori’s ideas were considered by many to be radical and controversial. She was simultaneously criticized for being too liberal by those who thought she gave children too much freedom and too structured by some of the other progressive or “new” educators, with the insistence that her learning materials be used in specifically prescribed ways and that she maintained direct oversight of teacher training. Other criticisms were that introducing reading, writing, and counting at preschool age was too early and that the focus on children working with real-life tasks limited their imaginative play. It is also possible that Montessori’s keen sense of interdisciplinary thinking, her writing that straddled academic, personal, and religious perspectives, and her ideas on the interconnectedness of curricula also kept her from holding the attention of scholars; and that being a woman and an avowed feminist in a sea of male philosophers, education researchers, and psychologists led her ideas to be marginalized, disregarded, or in some instances, co-opted without attribution (Quarfood 2017). In addition, she may have been ahead of her time in thinking of education as a means not only to becoming literate and economically self-sufficient but to cultivating a more peaceful and sustainable way of communal living. And as other authors in this handbook develop further, Montessori may also have contributed to her own isolation by being proprietary with her ideas and by frequently falling out with some of her most devoted students, and by developing educational terminology that could be inaccessible to others. This handbook also documents how the most recent wave of interest in Montessori inspired efforts to create Montessori organizations in nations across the globe, new Montessori schools and networks, new training programs, and academic offerings focusing on Montessori education and principles. Along with this most recent wave are accompanying debates, with long historical antecedents, around the commercialization and marketing of Montessori’s name, without a deeper engagement with the pedagogy. Essential critiques dealt with in the handbook include race, gender, language, ability, and economic-/colonial-based challenges of Montessori education that were not previously considered in as much detail in the academic literature.

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Preface

Compiling the Handbook Having worked for a number of years to raise the academic profile of Montessori research, in 2019, while at an academic conference, we were approached by a Bloomsbury Publishing editor about compiling a handbook. We had created and participated in several networks of American and European Montessori researchers including Montessori Europe and the Montessori Research Working Group; founded two Montessori academic journals and an academic center for Montessori research; written dissertations, articles, and books about Montessori; trained at various levels as Montessori educators, taught about Montessori education at the university level, and established a Montessori Special Interest group at the American Educational Research Association, the largest educational research organization in the world. Creating a handbook was an exciting next step to building an international community of Montessori researchers and academics across an array of disciplines, including education, psychology, sociology, philosophy, history, and ethnic studies, through sharing diverse perspectives and expertise. We see the growing interest in education policy in support of learner-centered education as an ideal time to engage policymakers and educational leaders by providing a comprehensive overview of Montessori’s writings, philosophy, pedagogy, and implementation. The handbook, as we conceived it, is not a manual or definitive guide to Montessori pedagogy but rather, an accessible resource on the theories involved in Montessori education, and a representation of the extensive history, impact, and relevance of the global, pedagogical phenomenon of Montessori education. We hoped to provide an opportunity for readers to delve deeply into Montessori education and inspire additional scholarship. As white, female editors from the United States and Europe, we are aware of our own positionality, and worked with intention to create a volume of diverse, global voices. This handbook has input from over 100 contributors, including academic researchers, trained Montessori practitioners, and Montessori leaders from a wide range of international Montessori organizations. We contacted authors through our own networks and through recommendations of our colleagues, and with the assistance of Montessori organizations with more than twenty-five affiliates worldwide. Some of the handbook authors have Montessori training and represent a number of global Montessori affiliations while others do not. The authors reflect the religious, racial, ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic diversity of Montessori around the globe. To the extent possible, we sought out authors and collaborators who could represent the communities they were writing about from a first-person perspective. Each chapter was edited by at least two co-editors of the handbook and often commented on by additional experts in the field. In assembling this academic volume, it was important that Montessori education be represented in a broad and critical context. In the face of external criticism, Montessori educators have historically developed a fiercely protective and affirming culture around Montessori education, as well as a rich literature for fellow educators documenting Montessori’s life, pedagogy, and the dissemination of her work. To outsiders, this culture can appear both worshipful and uncritical. In academia, by contrast, criticism and addressing limitations are considered hallmarks of objective research. Developing a robust field of Montessori research requires balancing these competing impulses to document, affirm, and critique. This handbook reflects these competing impulses. For example, some chapters affirm Montessori education’s connection to cognitive science and child development while others point out limitations in the method’s reach, the harmful ways educators have applied Montessori education in particular xviii

Preface

countries and communities, and the ways Montessori education might be changed to better serve contemporary understandings of gender, race, and ethnicity. Regardless of attempts to be comprehensive in this volume, gaps are inevitable, given the reach of Montessori education worldwide, its history of grassroots diffusion, and the resulting complex patchwork of networks. We humbly acknowledge this fact and take full responsibility for the work presented. At the same time, our quest for the most comprehensive volume possible was limited by space and network constraints, especially in some of our global chapters. We have also been limited by consideration of sensitive political and cultural circumstances of some contributors. However, we see these gaps as opportunities to spur more research and publications about Montessori education.

Handbook Structure Part I: The Foundations and Evolution of Montessori Education The first part introduces fundamental aspects of Montessori pedagogy, philosophy, and education. We begin with a conversation around the life of Maria Montessori and important historical, political, and social contexts of her upbringing and adulthood. From there we consider the philosophical and spiritual contexts of her work over time. Our hope is that this part provides a brief primer to understanding Montessori’s work as it became a global phenomenon. It forms the foundation for the following five parts of the handbook.

Part II: Key Writings of Maria Montessori Montessori’s writings, many based on her lectures and training, are central to her pedagogy. This part presents key works in chronological order alongside critical discussions, reinterpretations, and perspectives on the contemporary significance of these texts. The part also addresses some of the challenges in accessing Montessori’s writings due to translation issues, as her writing style can come across as flowery, antiquated, and missing context. In addition, Part II addresses issues of authorship around Montessori’s works: some books were written directly by Montessori; others are based on notes from her lectures and are written by people other than Montessori herself.

Part III: Montessori Pedagogy across the Lifespan Montessori education encompasses philosophical aspects and theories such as developmental psychology, and cognitive, social, and didactic perspectives. Part III aims to link theory and practice and point out the continuity on which her pedagogy is based through its adaptation to children’s development. The first chapter in this part focuses on the role of the Montessori environment and how it relates to learning. Subsequent chapters offer rich depictions of the pedagogy’s practical application from infancy through adolescence, along with a conversation about the role of adults in the Montessori context. xix

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Part IV: The Science of Montessori Education Montessori approached the development of her method as a scientific endeavor. Part IV begins with a chapter exploring how Montessori’s early insights predated many currently accepted ideas on educational psychology and the learning process. To contextualize a discussion of current Montessori research, the second chapter outlines the expected inputs, processes, and outputs of the Montessori method. The third chapter traces efforts to assess implementation fidelity, and how it matters for research and implementation, especially given commercial pressures and resource restrictions around the world. The remaining chapters in Part IV connect Montessori education to current research in the areas of neuroscience, cognitive psychology, assessment, and executive function as well as motivation and optimal learning experience.

Part V: Global Montessori Education The question of how Montessori education has expanded globally while staying separate from mainstream education is addressed in chapters focusing on the globalization of Montessori. Part V follows with brief profiles of twenty-five countries and regions across the globe and identifies key themes in the diffusion, expansion, and contraction of Montessori education in those locales, both historically and currently.

Part VI: Contemporary Considerations Regarding Montessori Education The final part of the handbook aims to inform readers about more recent research and practices within, and around, Montessori communities and Montessori education, with a focus on equity, inclusivity, accessibility, and ecological preservation. Chapters examine linguistic, cultural, and ethnic and racial diversity, particularly as applied to Montessori education in the United States. Additional inquiries into cognitive diversity, gender, technology in Montessori education and Montessori practices with dementia patients are also addressed. Finally, Montessori practices are framed in the context of eco-literacy, sustainability, and climate change.

A Note on Terms in the Handbook about Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Disability The terms we use to talk about various identities including race, ethnicity, gender, and disability within the handbook are constantly changing. Our aim is to use language to represent peoples’ identities with respect and thoughtfulness. In 2023, authors in this handbook refer to specific racial and ethnic identities, for example Black, Latinx (the x reflects not putting people into male and female categories), and Asian Canadian rather than broader categories like “minority.” Authors use “Indigenous” to refer to people native to a territory whose status as members of

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sovereign nations often distinguishes them from other communities of color. Authors use genderneutral language like children or youth instead of boy or girl. Authors also use identity-first language to talk about disability (for example autistic person instead of person with autism) to reflect the fact that disability, like many other identities, is a “natural, innate aspect of human variation” (Josephine Steuer-Ingall, pers. comm.). The usage of “disability” and “disabled” instead of “special needs” and “exceptionalities” also represents the fact that these terms are linked to legal rights and have been reclaimed by the disability advocacy community. Though this language may be new to some readers, we hope that it reflects the communities we write about with respect and nuance. We welcome conversations about these terms and encourage ongoing dialogue within the research community to continue to be respectful and inclusive with our work.

About the Cover In searching for an image for the cover of this handbook, we grappled with many possibilities before finding one that we felt represented the diverse ages, ethnicities, countries, and applications of Montessori’s ideas in the world and in research. Hilma af Klint (1862–1944), a pioneering Swedish modernist painter, was a contemporary of Maria Montessori, with overlapping interests in theosophy and spirituality. Montessori and af Klint were also similarly avant-garde women with interests in the male-dominated fields of science, mathematics, and the natural world. Both abandoned safe career paths for visionary endeavors. To us, af Klint’s 1907 painting, Group IV, The Ten Largest, No. 3, Youth, evokes the geometric precision and beauty of Montessori materials and Montessori’s holistic ideas.

Note 1. In this handbook, we refer to either Montessori education, the Montessori model, or Montessori pedagogy. The title of Montessori’s first book, Il metodo della pedagogia scientifica applicato all’educazione infantile nelle case dei bambini, was translated into English as The Montessori Method. Montessori later criticized this for not highlighting the responsiveness of her philosophy to the needs of children and the ongoing development of the educator. As Montessori explained in The Discovery of the Child, she understood her work to be “based on having observed the development of psychological phenomena which had hitherto been unknown and unobserved” rather than a static, unchanging “method of education” (1967, 346).

References Association Montessori Internationale. 2006. “Montessori Census.” Montessori Centenary. Accessed August 19, 2021. http://montessoricentenary.org/. Association Montessori Internationale. 2020. “Montessori Schools in 2020.” Annual General Meeting. Cubberley, Ellwood. 1916. Public Schools Administration. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

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Debs, Mira, Jaap de Brouwer, Angela K. Murray, Lynne Lawrence, Megan Tyne, and Candice von der Wehl. 2022. “Global Diffusion of Montessori Schools: A Report From the 2022 Global Montessori Census.” Journal of Montessori Research 8 (2): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr.v8i2.18675. Montessori, Maria. 1967. The Discovery of the Child. Translated by M. Joseph Costelloe. Notre Dame, IN: Fides. Montessori, Maria. 1989. The Child, Society and the World: Unpublished Speeches and Writings. Oxford: Clio. Quarfood, Christine. 2017. Montessoris pedagogiska imperium: Kulturkritik och politik i mellankrigstidens Montessorirörelse. Göteborg: Daidalos. Quarfood, Christine. 2022. The Montessori Movement in Interwar Europe: New Perspectives. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. Tebano Ahlquist, Eva-Maria. 2012. Skolans Levda Rum och Lärandets Villkor. PhD diss., Stockholm University. Whitescarver, Keith, and Jacqueline Cossentino. 2008. “Montessori and the Mainstream: A Century of Reform on the Margins.” Teachers College Record 110 (12): 2571–600.

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Acknowledgments In completing an edited volume on Montessori education, we were fortunate for the support of so many individuals and institutions who helped bring this project to fruition. Working with so many transnational collaborators, over 100 in total, during the COVID-19 pandemic and a time of limited travel, helped remind us of our global connectedness and brought a great deal of joy to the work. We are especially grateful for our authors’ expertise, commitment to the project, patience, and good humor during this process. The Montessori Research Working Group organized by the KU Center for Montessori Research was an early site for mapping out what this project would look like and finding chapter authors. We are grateful for the vision of the working group participants. We gratefully acknowledge funding and material support from the Department of Education, Stockholm University, the Educational Research in Citizenship Competences (ERiCC), Stockholm University, the Frederick W. Hilles Publication Fund of Yale University, the Yale Education Studies Program and its Summer Experience funding supported by the Endeavor Foundation, the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Notre Dame Graduate School’s Summer Research Opportunities Program, the Center for Montessori Research in the Achievement and Assessment Institute at the University of Kansas, and Wend Collective. These various entities helped us to hire research assistants, translators, and copyeditors; complete indexing; and acquire photo permissions for several historical photos along with other support. Summer undergraduate research associates Saket Malhotra, Amelia J. Murray, Lesli Romero, and Tia R. Williams conducted foundational research and co-authored several of the global chapters. Mira Debs assumed the role of photo editor of the handbook and is grateful for the support of Fay Hendriksen, Sid Mohandas, Joel Parham, Joke Verheul, and research assistant Josephine Steuer-Ingall for obtaining permission to reproduce so many historical and contemporary Montessori photos. Harald Ludwig served as a reader on several chapters. Darwin Michener-Rutledge, Ariel Rothman, and Eva-Maria Tebano Ahlquist provided translations. Laurie Costlow, Jan Feeney, Karen Hellekson, Michael Knight, Marcy Krever, Isabelle Lahaie, Lisa Stephen, Josephine Steuer-Ingall, and Joke Verheul provided copyediting, language editing, and fact-checking assistance. Dr. Iris Müller-Westermann, Museichef (Museum Director) of the Moderna Museet Malmö, shared valuable insights with us about the artist Hilma af Klimt whose work is featured on the cover of this volume. We thank our families for their support during this enormous endeavor. Finally, we recognize and honor all of the educators and children around the world who have shown persistence and fortitude during the enormous educational challenges of the last several pandemic years. This book honors your work.

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PA RT I Foundations and Evolution of Montessori Education

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Introduction: Foundations and Evolution of Montessori Education Maria K. McKenna

Part I provides an overview to Maria Montessori’s life and her intellectual ideas in the context of her contemporaries. While this part could easily be its own handbook, in making difficult choices about what to include, we expanded beyond Montessori as an educator toward a broader history of Montessori honoring her contributions as a philosopher, feminist, and political agent. The four chapters of Part I expand Montessori’s intellectual and practical legacies beyond education alone by emphasizing the relationship of her work to contemporaries, philosophy, feminist paradigms, spiritual influences, and the varied political narratives around Montessori. Biographies of Montessori and histories of her pedagogy are found in languages around the globe written by scholars from a wide variety of disciplines. Much of this work focuses, somewhat narrowly, on straightforward chronological narratives. Fewer scholarly sources exist focusing on her work related to philosophy and peace studies. Importantly, in recent years, European scholars including those writing in Italian, Swedish, and German have led a thoughtful reassessment of Montessori’s life and work. This is especially true of the countless contributions from those scholars and pedagogues working within Italian language literature and history that often get overlooked in the English-speaking world. In a review of Erica Moretti’s new book, The Best Weapon for Peace, Mira Debs writes, “[There is a] dynamism of research about Montessori’s life and legacy happening in non-English sources. Moretti’s book connecting this scholarship to English-language readers is a bridge. In recent years, European scholars including Valeria Babini, Luisa Lama, Letterio Todaro, and Christine Quarfood have been leading an academic reassessment in book-length monographs of Maria Montessori’s life and intellectual legacy” (Debs 2022). These contributions add a great deal to the provenance of Montessori’s ideas within the unfolding Italian and European social and intellectual history of the time. She was a child of both the Enlightenment and the Risorgimento and buffeted by late-nineteenth-century and earlytwentieth-century events just as were her contemporaries such as Gramsci, Croce, and Gentile (Mira Debs, pers. comm.). The fact she, and her work, survived at all, unlike many, even if some events in her lifetime are a bit dubious is a testament to her capacity to navigate very difficult historical contexts. Moreover, while Montessori was a prolific writer of lectures and pedagogical training sessions she was not particularly adept at philosophically oriented writing though contemporary reports note that she was a very effective orator of philosophical and feminist thinking.

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As editors, we paid particular attention to less prominent facets of Montessori’s life. We begin with a chapter highlighting the significance of the historical and social contexts of her upbringing and adulthood. From there we move on to think about the philosophical, political, and spiritual contexts of her work over time. Our hope is that Part I of the handbook provides a brief primer to Montessori’s work as it becomes a global phenomenon. It forms the foundation for the remaining five Parts of the handbook. Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t uplift the many Montessori scholars, historians, and philosophers cited within the chapters of Part I and throughout the handbook. These authors and their work play a significant role in the longevity of the Montessori pedagogy and philosophy. They were pioneering scholars when Montessori work was neither popular nor as well known as it is today. We encourage our readers to explore the extant body of work, to read the chapters herewith, and also to continue to envision new ways of seeing and exploring Montessori’s life, connections, and the varied contexts surrounding her work and legacy.

Reference Debs, Mira Catherine. 2022. “BOOK REVIEW The Best Weapon for Peace: Maria Montessori, Education and Children’s Rights.” Journal of Montessori Research 8 (1). https://doi.org/10.17161/jomr. v8i1.17113.

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Maria Montessori: Life and Historical Context Christine Quarfood

The Italian doctor Maria Montessori (1870–1952) was a remarkable woman, a scientifically minded leader of an international reform movement. In a time of deep social and political unrest, Montessori’s vision of the liberated child mobilized hopes for a brighter future. Concerned about children’s place in society and the failures of an outmoded school system, she proposed new solutions to age-old problems of education. Montessori’s radically innovative field-tested method, with its prepared environment and interactive materials, shifted focus from the teacher to the learner, thus challenging established notions of childhood and schooling. As a public intellectual in interwar Europe, Montessori delivered a cultural critique, which drew inspiration from many sources: feminism, pacifism, evolutionary biology, medical hygienism and psycho-dynamics. During her adventurous life journey, she lectured and held teacher training courses all over Europe and also in America and India, finding allies in diverse cultural milieus and ideological quarters.

Montessori’s Early Medical Career Maria Montessori was born in Italy on August 31, 1870, in the small town of Chiaravalle, near Ancona. She was the only child of civil servant Alessandro Montessori (1832–1915) and Renilde Montessori, born Stoppani (1840–1912), both fervent supporters of the new Italian nation-state. A few weeks after Montessori’s birth, the unification of Italy was completed with the annexation of the Papal territory. Alessandro, who in his youth had fought against the Austrians, worked as accountant for the state-run tobacco industry. After some years of moving from region to region inspecting factories, Alessandro in 1875 obtained a post in the capital, at the Ministry of Finance (Kramer 1988). The Italy in which Montessori grew up was newly politically unified, but sharply socially divided, with great tensions between state and church, the ruling elite and the common people, and the industrialized north and the poor agrarian south. Regional language barriers and widespread illiteracy did not facilitate integration. As statesman Massimo d’Azeglio put it in his memoirs, which were posthumously published in 1867, “Italy is made, but not the Italians.” The ex-Minister of Public Education Ferdinando Martini reframed this phrase in 1896, saying, “We have made Italy. Now we must make Italians.” The optimistic hope that it would be possible to create a new and superior kind of citizen was not only part of the Italian nation-building project, but typical for the general cultural climate in which Montessori’s first impressions were formed (Hom 2013; Quarfood 2005).

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Figure 1.1  Maria Montessori in Rome, 1914. Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Nelis R. Kampenga University Archives. A new law in 1883 gave women access to technical secondary schools and made it possible for Montessori to study engineering. In 1890, further defying social conventions, she enrolled at La Sapienza (the University of Rome), opting for a medical career. At the time, only five Italian women had obtained a medical degree. Montessori’s choice of profession was very likely socially motivated. In the fin de siècle Italian context, medicine and left-wing social liberalism went hand in hand. Several of the professors Montessori encountered at La Sapienza also pursued political careers, including Guido Baccelli, Angelo Celli, and Clodomiro Bonfigli (Babini 2000; Quarfood 2005).

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The ethos of positivist human sciences and medicine, the physical and moral regeneration of the population, shaped Montessori’s outlook on life during the formative years of her medical studies. To cure the ills of a nation savagely plagued by cholera, malaria, and pellagra, medical scientists like Angelo Celli mobilized experimental hygiene based on bacteriological research. Late-nineteenth-century preventive medicine also sought to combat social ills. Crime rates were alarmingly high in Italy, and scientists debated whether delinquency and antisocial behavior had its roots in environmental or hereditary factors (Quarfood 2005). Inspired by concepts of mental hygiene, Montessori specialized in the field of neuropsychiatry. Her doctoral dissertation, which earned her a medical degree in 1896, brought new clinical material to the controversy regarding hallucinations. In accord with her supervisor, assistant professor Sante de Sanctis, Montessori argued for a psychological explanation of a special kind of hallucinations perceived by patients suffering from delusions of persecution. The patients she had observed experienced conflicting auditory and visual hallucinations, for instance, hearing threatening voices at the same time as more encouraging ones or having visions of devils and angels simultaneously. Overactivity of the associative capacity, rather than brain damage, was the most probable cause of such hallucinations, Montessori claimed (Montessori 1896; Quarfood 2005). Alongside her scientific training, Montessori’s outlook was also shaped by her commitment to the feminist cause. The first wave of feminism, with its demands for equal rights, reached Italy toward the turn of the century. Montessori became an eager protagonist, fiercely denouncing pseudo-scientific prejudices about female inferiority. As one of the Italian delegates at the 1896 International Women’s Congress in Berlin, she described the predicament of Italian women workers, earning barely half the wages paid to men. In the name of justice, she motioned for “equal work, equal wages” (Montessori 1897, 212). Montessori’s impassioned speech attracted the attention of the press, and in 1899 she represented Italy at the congress organized by the International Council of Women in London. She also took part in the campaign for women’s suffrage, which gained momentum in 1904 in anticipation of the electoral reform planned by the Giolitti government. However, the results of that reform, presented in 1911, were disappointing. Only men gained universal suffrage, a severe blow to Italian feminism (Babini and Lama 2000; Quarfood 2005). A much more successful campaign, backed by politicians and leading scientists, concerned the establishment of medical-pedagogical institutes for the rehabilitation of developmentally disabled children. The idea was to offer this disadvantaged group, which had previously been locked up in mental hospitals, a more professional care. Psychiatry professor Clodomiro Bonfigli had raised the issue in parliament in 1897. Montessori became a leading figure in the campaign that followed, in close cooperation with her colleague Giuseppe Montesano at the Roman psychiatric clinic. In lecture tours, articles, and at various conferences, she stressed the urgency of improving the quality of services offered to developmentally disabled children. School failures, asocial behavior, and delinquency were different manifestations of degenerative, hereditary deficiencies. Montessori and other scientists asserted that the constitutionally weak and disadvantaged could profit from corrective treatment, combining methods of sensory training and mental hygiene. As Montessori explained in an 1899 lecture, such treatments were given in medical-pedagogical institutes all over the world, and it was now time that Italians, “the proud protectors of posterity,” should also “listen to the voice of the degenerate child” and “lead him to redemption and regeneration” (Babini and Lama 2000; Montessori 1899, 107; Quarfood 2005).

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In 1900, Montessori and Montesano jointly opened an Orthophrenic School and teacher training center for mentally disabled children in Rome. The year before Montessori had visited the Bicêtre hospital in Paris, where the special education methods devised by Jean Itard (1774–1838) and Edouard Séguin (1812–1880) were further developed in a hygienistic direction by Désiré Magloire Bourneville (1840–1909), head of the Bicêtre department for mentally disabled children from 1879 onward. Central to Séguin’s physiological method was a set of hands-on didactic tools, which, in a systematic and analytical way, stimulated the senses, thus strengthening cognitive capacity. By the end of 1901, Montessori’s collaboration with Montesano came to an end. Notably, their relationship had not been merely professional: they had a son together, born in 1898, who was hidden from the world and nursed in the countryside. Why they never married is not clear. Kramer believes that Montessori’s mother Renilde thought marriage would have put an end to her daughter’s career. According to Babini, Montessori’s feminist