Abstract/Notes: Montessori education was developed over 100 years ago, and persists as a marginal ‘niche reform’ of the standard model. Here I discuss two unresolved dichotomies in early childhood education – the tension between work and play, and between structure and freedom. I explain how Montessori collapses and thereby resolves the dichotomies, and does so in a contemporary theoretical frame – one that is dynamical rather than linear. I next describe the origins and functioning of Montessori preschool environments, outcomes from the most methodologically sound studies to date, and impediments to Montessori’s more widespread adoption. I also show how Montessori is a culturally responsive pedagogy, and conclude by return to the dichotomies and how Montessori makes sense for the modern era.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/03004430.2020.1832998

ISSN: 0300-4430, 1476-8275

Language: English

Published: New York, New York: American Montessori Society, 1966

Language: English

ISSN: 0040-7887

Abstract/Notes: This article investigates Rabindranath Tagore’s educational vision, which underpinned the three institutions he set up in India – Santiniketan (1901), Visva-Bharati (1921) and Sriniketan (1922). It argues that this vision is still relevant for the world of today and tomorrow, and that it should be taken into account in designing any educational model for the future. Tagore rejected the modern mechanical learning that focuses merely on cultivation of the individual’s mind, in favour of learning that encourages the creativity, imagination and moral awareness of students. He believed that education should be not for mere “success” or “progress” but for “illumination of heart” and for inculcation of a spirit of sympathy, service and self-sacrifice in the individual, so that s/he could rise above egocentrism and ethnocentrism to a state of global consciousness or worldcentrism. In pursuing this argument, I refer to Tagore’s letters, lectures, interviews and essays, both in Bengali and in English, a body of his short stories, his novel The Home and the World and his allegorical poem “Two Birds”. I also explain his awareness of the educational movements of his time in the West, and draw brief parallels with selected Western luminaries in the field, such as Plato, Montaigne, Rousseau and John Dewey. My contention is that although some may dismiss Tagore’s educational principles as “rickety sentimentalism” in a world that is palpable and real, his ideas of human fellowship, unity and creativity, and kinship for nature seem irrefutable with the rise of multiculturalism and the looming ecological crisis threatening world peace.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/10357823.2015.1125441

ISSN: 1035-7823

Abstract/Notes: Montessori talks extensively about sea life and the many captivating examples that will rouse and sustain the children’s interest in the concept of Cosmic Education. Third lecture, January 9, 1936, 21st International Course Extension, London

Language: English

ISSN: 0519-0959

Abstract/Notes: It is only within very recent history – the past 25 to 30 years – that neuroscience has become a force in child development and educational research, as the tools to study the brain in action have improved and become more readily available. Although neuroscience research on reading, math, and social and emotional function also has important implications for education, this chapter focuses on executive function (EF) skills because these skills play an especially foundational role in learning and because they have been particularly well studied. Basic research on EF development has provided an important foundation for interventions designed to specifically target EF skills in young children, and suggests how to structure places of education to playfully explore their environments in intentional and attentive ways, to practice reflection, and to engage in self-regulated learning. Although neuroscience is a relatively new player in early education, it has transformed people's understanding of the conditions that support learning and brain development.

Language: English

Published: New York: Routledge, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-429-46828-5

Language: English

Published: London, England: Gordon & Breach, 1990

ISBN: 2-88124-769-5

Abstract/Notes: Whole systems thinking is a framework for seeing the whole picture, for establishing interrelationships and understanding phenomena as an integrated whole. Systems thinking may be contrasted with fragmentary thinking, which is viewing phenomena in their separate parts and focusing only on narrow specialisations. In an education for sustainability (EfS) context this means emphasising relationships: relationships between all the systems on planet Earth, and at different systems levels, as they relate to the environment, economics, government, health, and so on. Values and goals are also important aspects of these relationships. Sterling argues that: 'We are educated by and large to compete and consume rather than to care and conserve'. Furthermore, the same author maintains that because of the imposition of managerial and economic values on education we have lost touch with the social values and real-life contexts of authentic education. With these ideas in mind, this paper briefly examines the application of whole systems thinking on an EfS program at a small Montessori primary school in the metropolitan area of Perth, Western Australia. [Author abstract, ed]

Language: English

ISSN: 0156-7608

Abstract/Notes: Delivered at Tenth International Democratic Education Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand

Language: English

Language: English

ISSN: 0028-5048