Critical Montessori Education: Centering BIPOC Montessori Educators and Their Antiracist Teaching Practices

• In Event: Issues of Race and Access in Montessori Education

Abstract

​​While many BIPOC Montessori educators engage in anti-racist and culturally responsive teaching, Montessori philosophy is rooted in a lack of centering of BIPOC students’ experiences. Framed by Critical Race Theory, this study employs critical ethnographic methods to better understand how a BIPOC Montessori teacher enacts the Montessori method to support BIPOC students. My analysis suggests that the teacher maintains her classroom space as a tangible and intangible cultural space that maintains her students' identities; that her own identity as a Black woman contribute to the school's work around anti-racism and culturally responsive pedagogy; and that there are external barriers that both the teacher and the school face, that prevent them both from fully achieving culturally responsive teaching practices.

Author

• Genevieve D'Cruz, Independent Researcher