What Labour’s Nursery Rollout Could Learn from Montessori

Quantity alone is not quality. Expanding places without rethinking pedagogy risks a missed opportunity. If Labour is serious about equity and transformation, it should look to a century-old model that is both radical and rigorously evidence-based: Montessori education.

Labour’s policy of taxing private schools and redirecting resources into the state sector, whilst promising “high and rising standards”, signals a willingness to re-engineer rather than merely tinker. Nowhere is that more urgent than in the early years, where gaps open fastest and have far-reaching implications for life outcomes.

The current model of early education, with its heavy reliance on teacher-led instruction, fragmented timetables, and relentless assessment, is increasingly out of step with what developmental science tells us about how young children learn. The prize for getting it right is enormous: long-term gains in literacy, numeracy, executive function, and social outcomes. The risk of settling for business-as-usual is another decade of entrenched inequality.

Too often dismissed as a lifestyle choice for well-off parents, Montessori is in fact a fully articulated alternative to factory-model schooling. It is built on principles that developmental science now strongly endorses such as intrinsic motivation, sustained concentration, peer learning across mixed ages, and carefully designed environments that allow children to self-correct and explore.

Children in Montessori classrooms choose their work, repeat it until mastery, and sustain deep focus without the artificial interruptions of short “lesson slots.” Teachers act more as guides than lecturers. Materials are hands-on, self-correcting, and aesthetically designed to invite exploration. The ethos is self-mastery, not competition.

But, just as importantly, Montessori classrooms are deliberately social spaces. Mixed-age groups encourage collaboration, with younger children learning from older peers and older ones developing empathy and leadership by helping those just behind them in their development. Grace and Courtesy lessons, a staple of Montessori practice, explicitly guide respect, kindness, and the skills of living well in a community. These daily habits cultivate not only concentration and independence, but also cooperation, fairness, and a sense of social responsibility. In this way, Montessori links academic growth with the development of the “soft skills” of collaboration, empathy and self-regulation – all of which underpin both future citizenship and social justice.

Research supports these outcomes: Lillard and Else-Quest (2006) found Montessori pupils showed stronger social understanding and more positive interactions on the playground compared to peers in conventional settings. Later studies in public Montessori preschools (e.g., Lillard et al., 2017) suggest these social-cognitive advantages go hand in hand with reduced achievement gaps, reinforcing the model’s potential as a lever for equity and social justice.

Labour has three intersecting goals in early years policy: expand access, boost standards, and reduce inequality. Montessori helps deliver on all three:

• Quality at scale: The risk of “warehouse nurseries” is real when expansion outpaces vision. Montessori offers a proven model of quality by design: long work periods, environments rich in language and maths, and autonomy for even the youngest learners.
• Equity: Evidence shows Montessori lifts children from disadvantaged backgrounds without dragging down those from wealthier homes. In short, it doesn’t just raise the average, it narrows the gap.
• Public over private: By embedding Montessori within state provision, Labour can break the perception that high-quality pedagogy is only available to those who pay. It offers a “public alternative” every bit as ambitious as private schools.

For educators, the message is clear: considering Montessori would be more than expanding childcare – it would mean rethinking what education itself can be.

There are, of course, hurdles. Montessori is not a bolt-on. Cherry-picking elements (“a bit of free choice time,” “some wooden blocks to manipulate”) risks diluting the approach until nothing is left. High-fidelity Montessori demands proper training. It requires teachers who understand not just the materials, but the philosophy of observation, autonomy and respect for sensitive periods in development.

This requires investment. But Labour has already signalled its intent to invest in the early years’ workforce. Why not include Montessori training pathways, bursaries, and partnerships with Montessori institutes? If the government is willing to create 3,000 nurseries, it can surely pilot 30 as dedicated Montessori “lab schools,” especially in disadvantaged communities where the equalising effect could be most powerful.

Regulators, too, would need to show flexibility. Montessori classrooms do not fit neatly into the Department for Education’s boxes. Ofsted would need to recognise different rhythms of learning and give value to aspects of character development and creative expression, not just academics. But if Labour is serious about breaking down barriers and raising standards, it must tolerate innovation as well as expansion.

Here is a concrete proposal: as part of the new nursery rollout, Labour should fund a network of state-funded Montessori pilot schools, each serving a diverse intake and linked to a teacher-training centre. These pilots would:

• Train early years educators in Montessori pedagogy with state support.
• Evaluate outcomes rigorously, both academic and social, to build an evidence base.
• Serve as demonstration centres to diffuse good practice into the wider system.
• Provide parents with a genuine, high-quality alternative within the state sector.

This is not fantasy. In the U.S., public Montessori schools now educate tens of thousands of children, many in disadvantaged urban areas. If it can be done in Hartford, Connecticut, why not in Hull or Hackney?

Ultimately, Montessori is not just another “choice” on the school marketplace. It is a coherent vision of human development. It trusts children as active learners, builds intrinsic motivation, and integrates knowledge rather than slicing it into fragments. It is also a vision aligned with the equity goals that animate Labour’s early years push.

As education academic Angeline Lillard has argued, the time is ripe for an educational revolution. We know the conventional model is fraying. We know that autonomy, concentration, and holistic development matter. We know that early gaps become lifelong divides if left unaddressed. NOW is the time and opportunity to act.