Abstract/Notes: Maria Montessori’s vision of peace education includes a deep respect for integral human development where a focus on the whole child in the context of the larger community is the norm. Within Montessori education, children learn each part of the universe, living and non-living, play a role in the cosmic order of the world. Long before climate change became a mainstream concern and imminent threat, Montessori understood that ecoliteracy and a deep reverence for understanding how sustainability, sustainable living, respect for the environment, and a deep understanding of the means of production and exchange were essential to the development of a peaceful world. This chapter explores her philosophy of peace education, its relationship to environmental stewardship, and the implementation of these themes within the Montessori context.

Language: English

Published: New York, New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-350-27561-4 978-1-350-27560-7 978-1-350-27562-1

Series: Bloomsbury Handbooks

Abstract/Notes: When critics consider utopian literature, they often claim that the utopian imagination is limited in its ability to provide practical instruction for societal reform. In Archaeologies of the Future, Fredric Jameson extends this critique by arguing that the utopian imagination only exists “to demonstrate and to dramatize our incapacity to imagine the future” (288-289). By returning to an early twentieth century utopian novel, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland (1915), we can put pressure on Jameson’s ideas about the ultimate function of the utopian imagination. By analyzing the education system in Herland, we are able to see how Gilman integrated the contemporary educational philosophy of John Dewey and methods of Maria Montessori to provide an intellectual and institutional foundation for her utopian education system. Therefore, Gilman provides a set of ‘instructions’ to suggest how we might reform current methods of education to fit within her utopian vision. Gilman’s Herland allows us to see how a highly imaginative utopian text can promote social change to build a ‘better’ future.

Language: English

Published: Carbondale, Illinois, 2016

Abstract/Notes: This qualitative case study explores how Montessori educators in a public charter Montessori school experience Montessori education for low-income Black children. Using the methodology of a qualitative intrinsic case study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eighteducators (six teachers and two administrators). The participants are diverse in terms of age (26 to 54), race (three white, six African American), gender (two male and six female) and educational experience (2–25 years teaching). Education for Black children in the United States recounts histories of exclusion and segregation. Montessori education for children in the U.S. over the past 100 years shows a progression from exclusivity to inclusivity with the modern push for Montessori in the public sector. Neoliberal education reform is an important context to consider in the reproduction of injustice in American schools. This study’s findings show that participants are responding to this injustice. Negotiating tension, these educators draw onMontessori philosophy, culturally responsive teaching practices, and the tenets of an education for social justice to meet the unique needs of students who are impacted by trauma, inequity, and structural racism. Blending educational traditions to become more responsive to the conditions created by oppressive constructs has created a path through the tension. Prospect Montessori educators enact a hybrid Montessori program that focuses on relationships, communication, and social/emotional learning. This study’s educational implications stem from a call for Montessorieducation to examine its relevancy for under-served Black students.Keywords: Montessori, Neoliberal education reform, culturally responsive teaching, socialjustice

Language: English

Published: Chicago, Illinois, 2022

Abstract/Notes: Modern educational space is "impregnated" with ideas of humanization and personality-oriented concept. In this regard, it becomes necessary to study and understand the potential of those pedagogical systems and techniques of a personal orientation that have taken their solid place in the educational space, having proved their importance, efficiency and productivity. One of the most striking representatives of ideas with a humanistic focus is the Italian teacher, psychologist, founder of the method of scientific pedagogy M. Montessori. The article discusses the positive and negative aspects of the developing method of M. Montessori.

Language: English

DOI: 10.5958/2249-7137.2021.01104.6

ISSN: 2249-7137

Language: Korean

ISSN: 1226-9417

Abstract/Notes: The aim of the thesis was to map what media education is like in Montessori-pedagogical early childhood education. The purpose was to examine how Montessori pedagogy developed more than a hundred years ago meets children's digitized growth environment and media culture. The research was qualitative. The theoretical basis of the work was research on children's media use and media education, the national foundations of the early childhood education plan and the principles of Montessori pedagogy. The data collection method was a semi-structured thematic interview. The interviewees were six early childhood education teachers who worked in Montessori kindergartens for 3-6 year olds in the capital region. The transcribed material was analyzed using theory-driven content analysis. In the research questions, I clarified the Montessori educators' views on media education and its challenges, as well as the special features of Montessori pedagogical media education. In addition, it was mapped how different media content and information and communication technology were utilized in the pedagogical practices of Montessori kindergartens. The key result was that the Montessori educators had a positive attitude towards media education and were more aware than before, but there was also a need for development. The goals of teaching media literacy and information and communication technology skills were seen to be the child's inclusion, supporting agency and equality. Media education aimed to strengthen children's active media skills, i.e. children's own production and expression. A critical attitude towards media devices and content was also considered important. Learning in Montessori pedagogy is based on the concreteness and sensibility of Montessori tools, which is still seen as a working method. Therefore, supplementing the prepared learning environment with technology should be done pedagogically. On the other hand, the child-oriented nature of Montessori pedagogy, the learning of phenomena, and the effort to help the child function in their own everyday life create a good starting point for reforming Montessori pedagogy as needed with media education tools, applications, and content. Awareness of media education and supporting technical skills are ways, which strengthen the position of media education in Montessori pedagogical early childhood education.

Language: Finnish

Published: Helsinki, Finland, 2019

Abstract/Notes: This chapter examines Maria Montessori’s text, Education and Peace (1972) which was first published in 1949 in Italian. The text is a series of speeches she gave throughout Europe during the Interwar period of 1932-1939 and is divided into three parts. Part I is an introduction to Montessori’s vision for peace education. Part II collects the lectures from the Sixth International Montessori Congress in Copenhagen, 1937. Part III focuses on the lecture, “The Importance of Education in Bringing about Peace,” from an address to the International School of Philosophy in Amersfoort, 1937. The final section contains Montessori’s “Address to the World Fellowship of Faiths” in London, 1939. Montessori’s works assume a worldview where peace is the most natural state of consciousness and express her belief that humans can concretely address the fact that humanity seems to be devolving into greater forms of violence instead of advancing toward peace.

Language: English

Published: New York, New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-350-27561-4 978-1-350-27560-7 978-1-350-27562-1

Series: Bloomsbury Handbooks

Language: English

Published: Oxford, England: Clio, 1991

Edition: 1st Clio ed.

ISBN: 1-85109-114-9 978-1-85109-114-0

Series: The Clio Montessori series , 9

Volume: 1 of 2

Abstract/Notes: This article examines the three most prominent movements of alternative education in Israel: Democratic education, Waldorf education, and the Montessori method of education. By comparing the educational approaches according to specific criteria, the goal is to provide the reader with as broad a picture as possible of their similarities and differences. The discussion focuses on the philosophical approach and general principles of each movement and does not aim to provide information or characteristics of specific educational institutions. One of the goals of the article is to bring before parents, educators, and policy makers knowledge of the different approaches so that they can understand and judge them with greater clarity.

Language: English

DOI: 10.46827/ejae.v6i1.3563

ISSN: 2501-5915

Abstract/Notes: In this qualitative, interpretive study, I examine the experiences of African American families in accessing and financing Montessori education in the United States, including African American families who did or did not eventually enroll their child(ren) in Montessori schools. The extant literature notes that African American families are disproportionately underrepresented in Montessori schools, despite an interest in this form of education. Grounded in the theoretical framework of critical race theory, I analyze participants’ perspectives on the role of race, and relatedly class, on what helped or hindered their awareness of, access to, and financing of Montessori education. Through 45–60-minute interviews with 13 African American families characterized as interested in enrolling their children in Montessori education, I found the following themes in regard to my research questions. First, participants’ experiences were noted as the power of social capital, challenge of logistics, and competing tensions in enrollment decision making. Second, hindrances to participants’ access and financing of Montessori education included: financial and financial aid barriers, gaps in equitable communication and marketing strategies, and limited diversity & equity initiatives. Third, participants found sources of support for accessing and financing Montessori education through a guiding belief in the philosophy of Montessori education and external change agents. Implications for theory and practice are included.

Language: English

Published: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2022