Ensuring Equity: A Debate Across the Montessori and International Baccalaureate Educational Systems

• In Event: Understanding How Organizational Systems Shape Student Equity and Teacher Agency

Abstract

This ethnographic and comparative study examines interactions between educational systems and mutual respect in classrooms. I define mutual respect as the work of intervening on power asymmetries— both between teachers and students, and among students — by according children increased equality, autonomy, and equity. I partnered with four elementary schools, situated across two systems (i.e., International Baccalaureate and Montessori) and two national contexts (i.e., Washington, D.C. and Toronto). In analyzing observations and video-cued focus groups, I found: Though IB and Montessori teachers similarly had equity at the forefront of their minds, they had different understandings and practices around ensuring equity in classrooms. This study contributes to ongoing conceptualizations of equity, educational systems, and the potential relationship between the two.

Author

• Whitney M. Hegseth, Boston College