Transforming the Transformation: A post-intentional phenomenological exploration of Montessori teachers engaging in anti-bias and anti-racist teacher self-reflection

Abstract

Montessori teachers often enter the teaching field with a strong sense of a Montessori social identity developed through their transformational teacher education experience (AMI, 2018a; Malm, 2004), uniting them around a shared knowledge and belief system (Fairclough, 1992, 2003). While a social identity can connect individuals and provide security and purpose, it can also limit beliefs and behaviors by producing a prescribed way of being (Foucault, 2010). Research (e.g., Sumison, 2002) has shown that when teachers are confronted with instances that challenge their teacher identity and social practice (Fairclough, 1992), they may experience dilemmas and uncertainty (Cuban, 1992; Lampert, 1985) that call their self and social identification as a teacher into question. This post-intentional phenomenological study is an attempt to better understand what is produced and provoked (Vagle, 2018) when Montessori teachers engage in anti-bias and anti-racist (ABAR) teacher self-reflection, a critical first step to implementing antiracist teaching practices in an early childhood classroom (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Specifically, I explored what is produced and provoked in the Montessori self and social identity as teachers consider ways of being a teacher that possibly differ with the Montessori teacher way of being. Six Montessori early childhood teachers participated in three workshops on ABAR self-reflection which I developed and facilitated over the course of three and a half months. Participant experiences, including my own, and additional phenomenological material (e.g., Montessori's writing, current initiatives in the Montessori social world) offered important insight into the life and evolution of the phenomenon. To guide analysis, I used Jackson and Mazzei's (2012) thinking with theory and Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) notion of the rhizome to conceptualize the life and growth of the phenomenon. Findings revealed elements of the Montessori social identity that provide meaning and purpose for teachers working towards dismantling oppression as well as limitations in the form of a regime of truth (Foucault, 1977/2010) that can challenge the development of a dialogic identity. Implications suggest recommendations for Montessori teacher education programs including strategies of incorporating ABAR reflective practices into Montessori teacher development, reevaluating the words and position of an adored leader for relevance as society evolves, and encouraging social activism by disrupting the notion of objectivity and neutrality in teaching.