Montessori as an alternative early childhood education

ABSTRACT

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood education
• Montessori
• culturally responsive pedagogy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Support while writing this article was provided by grants from Wend II Inc. and the Wildflower Foundation to the author and Institute of Education Sciences Grant R305A180181 to the American Institutes for Research. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not represent views of the Institutes or the U.S. Department of Education.

Notes on contributors

Angeline S. Lillard

Angeline S. Lillard is a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. Her main research areas are children’s play, theory of mind, and alternative childhood education.