On 6 May 2022, 70 years after Maria Montessori’s death, Stockholm University and the Department of Education and Didactics organized an international Montessori symposium. The idea was to present a breadth of research on Maria Montessori.

The symposium dealt with Maria Montessori in the interwar period, an analysis of the history of ideas. Another presentation suggested possible research models to study this large field. The symposium also presented interpretations of Montessori’s writings that point her out as a visionary and pioneer in education for a sustainable world. An additional research area addressed was the potential of neuroscience to examine the effects of teaching theory and learning in Montessori education. Finally, this report describes a study on whether Montessori-inspired education compared to traditional education stands up in areas of socio-economic disadvantage.

The main principle of Montessori pedagogy is the active child. This chapter discusses what is required to implement the idea in terms of the design of the environment, didactics, and the teacher’s role, according to Maria Montessori. To begin, there is a brief history of how Montessori’s own experiences became crucial in shaping her pedagogy.

The Nordic countries—Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Iceland—are often regarded as distinct regarding education politics and policies. The keywords in the Nordic educational model from the postwar years to today have been equality, solidarity, and community, resulting in uniform school systems that significantly influence the diffusion and adaptation of Montessori education.

Despite early enthusiasm in the 1910s and 1920s, the history of Montessori education in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway has been defined by the struggle to find a place within these uniform school systems as part of the larger welfare state project, and in Iceland, the Montessori method has never taken root. More recently, the introduction of school choice and publicly funded but privately controlled so-called free schools have altered the dynamic of the uniform Nordic school systems (except for Finland, which remains predominantly centralized). In this respect, the Nordic countries serve as an illuminating case study of how Montessori education has been implemented in uniform and centralized school systems and how that landscape changes with school choice policies.

Although The Advanced Montessori Method and From Childhood to Adolescence were published three decades apart, they present some exciting elements of continuity. In both, we find an accurate description of the cognitive processes that the author considers particularly relevant in childhood and adolescence. Moreover, Montessori operationally outlines a school curriculum designed to provide effective educational responses to the psychological needs manifested in these two different stages of development.

Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was an Italian physician, anthropologist, and educator known around the world for her educational philosophy and pedagogy. Her work established educational environments tailored to the child where autonomy and independence are encouraged within thriving and respectful communities. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Montessori Education is an accessible resource tracing Montessori education from its historical roots to current scholarship and contemporary issues of culture, social justice, and environmentalism. Divided into six sections the handbook encompasses a range of topics related to Maria Montessori and Montessori education including foundations and evolution of the field; key writings; pedagogy across the lifespan; scholarly research; global reach; and contemporary considerations such as gender, inclusive education, race and multilingualism. Written by scholars and practitioners based in over 20 countries, this is the go-to reference work for anyone interested in Montessori education.

The aim of this article is to understand how Montessori education, according to Maria Montessori, will enable 6–12-year-olds to meet future challenges and to care for and contribute to the wellbeing of society and the planet as a whole. This article reports on a qualitative content analysis of four books written by Maria Montessori. The analysis shows how the structure in Montessori´s curriculum for these ages lays the foundation to cultivate an understanding of the interdependence of living and non-living elements in the ecosystem and the collective responsibility for human coexistence. Further, the analysis shows how children are provided with an emotional tie to the universal approach she advocates and opportunities to develop a sense of empowerment. The topicality of Montessori education is discussed in relation to different teaching traditions. We argue that Montessori education constitutes a concrete example of a teaching tradition whose democratic mission is evident.