Only connect: Montessori education ‐ a profound antidote to disconnection?

Late capitalism and neoliberalism have created conditions which render some early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems as managed markets of corporatised provision where pedagogy is shaped by commercially produced curricula. These conditions infuse ECEC with the economic purpose of human capital development. This, it is argued, results in forms of disconnection ‐ from community, from personal and professional solidarity, and from local and global responsibility. However, alternatives to this status quo have long existed and continue to thrive. Montessori pedagogy arguably offers an antidote to this disconnection; an education rooted in hope and in awareness of human and more-than-human interdependence. This paper explores how Montessori’s century-old writing offers a different perspective on the purpose of early education.