What Is Montessori Education? — 100 Years of History, and What Research Has Shown

Why this topic is on parents’ minds

“Montessori education”—you’ve heard the words, there is a kindergarten like that nearby, and famous people (such as Google’s founders and former President Obama) sometimes come up as alumni. But:

• How is it different from an ordinary kindergarten?
• The monthly fee seems high—are there effects to match?
• I hear they “let children do as they like”—will my child be OK with that?

When choosing a kindergarten is right in front of you, questions like these never end. Because the method has continued for more than 100 years, information overflows when you look into it, and you can’t tell what to believe.

The origins and ideas of Montessori education

Montessori education was systematized by Maria Montessori (1870-1952), an Italian woman physician.

1. 1870

   Maria Montessori is born in Italy

   Unusually for a woman of her time, she entered medicine. She studied medicine at the University of Rome and became one of the pioneering women physicians.

2. 1907

   She opens the Casa dei Bambini (Children's House)

   In San Lorenzo, a poor district of Rome, she opened a facility for children ages 3 to 6 from families where both parents worked. Her observation and practice here became the starting point of Montessori education.

3. 1909

   She publishes 'The Scientific Pedagogy as Applied to Child Education in the Children's Houses'

   Her first work systematizing the educational method. It was translated in countries across Europe and spread internationally.

4. 1929

   She founds the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI)

   Founded as an international organization for teacher training and quality control. It still connects accredited schools in countries around the world.

5. Today

   About 20,000 schools operate around the world

   In Japan too, there are several hundred kindergartens and schools. There are also public efforts (in the United States, public Montessori schools are also increasing).

What matters here is the fact that Montessori education was originally a method developed for children in a poor district. Its starting point is completely different from the image some people have today of “high-end education for wealthy families.”

The ideas Montessori education values

As a physician, Maria Montessori started from “observing” children. The central ideas drawn from that are the following.

• Children have the power to learn by themselves — adults do not “drill knowledge in,” but arrange the environment and support children in learning by themselves
• There are “sensitive periods” — there are periods when particular abilities, such as language, movement, the senses, and order, grow easily (different by age)
• Respecting children’s initiative — children themselves choose what to do
• A prepared environment — so that children can work on things by themselves, materials and furniture are all child-sized and arranged accordingly

What is practiced — what goes on in a Montessori classroom

If you look inside an actual Montessori classroom, you see quite a different scene from an ordinary kindergarten.

1. Mixed-age classes

Children ages 3 to 6 spend time in the same class (elementary classes are ages 6 to 9 and 9 to 12). Younger children learn from older ones, and older children deepen their understanding by teaching.

2. “Work time”

Every day, for 2 to 3 hours, children use materials to work on activities they have chosen themselves (called “work” in Montessori). A feature is the long time spent concentrating on something alone.

3. Materials in 5 areas

Montessori materials are divided broadly into 5 areas.

• Practical life — activities related to daily life itself, such as pouring, cutting, washing, tying, and polishing
• Sensorial education — special materials that refine sight, touch, and hearing (the Pink Tower, the knobbed cylinders, etc.)
• Language education — sandpaper letters, picture cards, etc.
• Mathematics education — number rods, beads, decimal-system materials
• Cultural education — geography, history, biology, the arts, etc.

4. The teacher as a “guide”

The teacher does not “teach,” but takes the role of a “guide” who observes children’s activities and introduces materials as needed. There is almost no lecture-style instruction, and scenes where the teacher stands at the front and explains to everyone at once are few.

What does the research say? Two views

On the effects of Montessori education, there are both studies showing “it is effective” and studies pointing out that “the research methods themselves have problems.” Let’s look at both side by side.

Study A: Montessori education has positive effects in several areas

is known among Montessori studies as especially rigorous. That is because admission is decided by lottery, which greatly reduces “self-selection bias” due to the home environment or parents’ attitudes.

In this study, children who entered the schools from age 3 and children who lost the lottery and attended other kindergartens were followed for 4 years. As a result, the Montessori children showed higher scores in academics, social skills, executive function (the ability to plan and to exercise self-control), and more. As a further important finding, it was found that the gap in academic achievement due to family income had narrowed greatly in the Montessori group.

In Demangeon and colleagues at the University of Lorraine (2023)a meta-analysis integrating 33 studies published from 1991 to 2021 (about 21,679 children), children who received Montessori education, compared with children who received other educational approaches, showed positive effects in all 5 areas.

It is important that the method of a large-scale meta-analysis showed that the effect on academic achievement (reading, writing, math, etc.) is especially notable.

Study B: However, care is needed with the research methods

On the other hand, there are also critical points made about the research methods of Montessori education themselves.

lays out problems like the following.

• There are almost no rigorous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) — many studies take the approach of matching “Montessori children” and “comparison children” on variables such as home environment, but cannot fully rule out the possibility that invisible factors (such as parents’ views on education) affect the results
• Samples are small, and regions are skewed — many studies are on the scale of dozens to hundreds of children, which limits generalizing the results
• The content of “Montessori” varies widely — even among schools calling themselves “Montessori,” there are large differences in materials and how thoroughly teachers are trained, so the effects shown in research will not necessarily be reproduced at every Montessori kindergarten

In other words, what this body of research shows is that research to rigorously prove “whether Montessori education is effective” has not yet been done sufficiently.

How to read the two studies

A and B are not in conflict; they can be said to look at the same question from different angles.

• A: Looking at the body of research as a whole, positive effects are reported in several areas
• B: However, each study has methodological weaknesses, and one cannot say “the same effect can be expected from every ‘Montessori’”

Taking both into account, it can be summarized like this: “At a kindergarten that genuinely practices Montessori education, positive effects on children’s cognitive, social, and academic development can be expected,” but “judging by the name ‘Montessori’ alone is risky.”

Children this method tends to suit, and children it may not

From research and accumulated practice, these tendencies are said to exist. However, they are not absolute; please read them only as a guide.

Children it often suits

• Children who like to concentrate at their own pace — time to become absorbed in one activity is valued in Montessori
• Children who like using their hands — the materials are mainly things to touch and manipulate by hand
• Children with a strong “I want to do it myself” — there are many scenes where adults watch over without stepping in

Children who may need some consideration

• Children who like moving in rhythm as a group, or like set structures — Montessori centers on individual activities, with little whole-group instruction
• Children who need long periods to release energy — because the quiet concentration time is long, it is good to secure chances to move the body elsewhere
• Children who love playing with many others and find activities alone hard — they may need to get used to it little by little

However, these do not mean “it doesn’t suit them,” but that “getting used to it may be needed at first.” Actual Montessori kindergartens have ways of helping children settle naturally into the environment.

Closing dialogue