Where's the Spirituality?
So, my title is a play on the words of a once popular USA commercial that went on to be turned into a phrase. “Where’s the Beef?” was a popular commercial from 1984, which has recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. Yes, I know that I’m dating myself, but I am also lifting up a phrase that was used to question the substance of an idea. In this case I’m sincerely raising the question “Where’s the spirituality?” However, not to be vague or cheeky, let me, in the next section, contextualize my question within the realm of Montessori education (which is a human development, constructivist theory of learning) for more on the Montessori pedagogy (see: Lawrence, 2015).
To contextualize this question, I’ve just transitioned, after four years, serving as the Executive Director of one of the largest national Montessori associations in the USA. Over that timeframe I visited, easily, over a dozen high-quality Montessori schools from NY to CA (see: #SchoolLocator for a full listing of some of the schools that I may have visited). And while I was usually very impressed with their overall “head and hand” work occurring within those schools, I do not really recall being moved by their “heart” work.
Now to be clear, the phrase “head, heart and hand” (or 3-H) refers to a framework recently expounded upon by Orr in 1992 and later expanded by Sipos and others in 2008, however earlier proponents appear to be Scottish biologist Patrick Geddes. For my part, I’m using the framework to refer to a holistic developmental process that includes the mind, body and spirit of an individual; where the head refers to the mind (or intellect), the hand refers to the body (or skills) and the heart refers to the spirit. This is a concept that I wrestled with, during Divinity School, when I read the mystic luminary Howard Thurman, in his autiobiography (Thurman, 1981).
Therefore, when I say that I was usually impressed with the various school’s overall “head and hand” work, what I mean is that many of these schools were well stimulating their student’s intellectual domain and even diligently fostering the student’s skill development (whether fine motor skills or gross motor skills, etc.). Indeed, like many within education, writ large, there is often a hyper intellectualized focus as well as a spotlight on skills development. However, not many dare to venture into the realm of spirituality.
In fact, allow me to digress for a moment, in the USA there’s been a sharp line drawn and an adamant call for a “separation of church and state.” Prayer has been taken out of many schools, in an effort to not cross that line separating church and state. Hence, I believe that many would rather not touch this “educational third rail.” Additionally, it would appear that many lump “spirituality” with matters of the church and/or religion. To be clear, spirituality as described (Sabater, 2025) by Kor et al (2019) “is a personal exploration of core questions about life, meaning and transcendent forces which may (or may not) lead to commitment to specific religious beliefs and practices” and while spirituality is highly correlated to religiosity it is distinct. Good & Willoughby (2008) posit that “religiosity is defined as behavior associated with organized religion, such as church attendance [or a particular faith tradition].” Therefore, while many conflate spirituality with religion, the two are distinct and different. For me spirituality is broader and deals with matters (like prayer, meditation, joy, perseverance, patience, etc.) that allow one to ponder the meaning of life; the existence of a Higher Power; one’s purpose; etc. (Sabater, 2023).
This distinction seems important to make because while one might have a particular religious tradition (or not), someone might not want me to proselytize their child around my religious tradition. This is understandable and germane to Montessori pedagogy. This is relevant to Montessori education because it seems quite apparent to me that Dr. Maria Montessori discussed spirituality quite often, as a spiritual thread, in much of her writings (whether one explores the “spiritual embryo” which she discusses in two of her books or her numerous other references to “spiritual development” or “spiritual equilibrium” or etc). In fact, in her book, From Childhood to Adolescence, Dr. Montessori outright states “that spiritual equilibrium” is the aspect of an individual “[up]on which everything else depends” (Montessori, 1948/2021). Thus, while Dr. Montessori does not appear to be interested in proselytizing one’s child she does seem determined to discuss how “spirituality” is important for a human’s development. Furthermore, while I am not a Catholic, as Dr. Montessori professed, however, I am like Dr. Montessori in that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. Similarly, I am not interested in proselytizing anyone’s child around my specific faith tradition, but I am interested in discussing if we see spirituality as important to human development, particularly given Dr. Montessori’s spiritual thread woven into many of her writings. Therefore, this matter of spirituality seems important to me.
Nevertheless, to return to my “head, heart and hand” (3-H) discussion, despite the “red-line” of “separation between church and state” I was surprisingly truly blessed to observe children engaged in holistic 3-H work, recently. In particular, at two classroom observations this 3-H “work” profoundly moved me. I note (Sabater, 2025) “While observing in Butler’s YCC (young children’s community) I was able to see young two and three-year old children acting on the sensitive period drives for movement and refinement of skills...Regarding their [the student’s] skills refinement, I saw children cutting fruit which was helping their fine motor muscle development...I also keenly observed how one child was able to concentrate for nearly 10 minutes on wiping and scrubbing a table after she worked diligently to set the work station up, and it appears that this all was satisfying her sensitive period drive for order. I also marveled at how a small child was determined to set the table for snack, and worked plate by plate, cup by cup to diligently set this table (note that serving others, as this young child was so deliberately doing, might be considered a work of the “heart”). Taken together, these activities seemed to [potentially] lay the foundation for” one’s later human development. However, the 3-H work, that I observed in Butler’s YCC, clearly appeared to encompass cultivation of the student’s “head” (or intellect) as well as “hand” (or skill development) and the student’s “heart” (where the student’s focus, joy and determination to serve others all appear, to me, to fulfill work of the “heart” (or their spirit)). Now to be clear, I am not discussing Butler’s adult preparation, their environment or curricula offerings, because that is beyond the scope of this article, but what I am alluding to is the sense of spiritual “awe” that my observation of these two and three-year old children evoked.
Furthermore, I was also fortunate to observe in a lower elementary environment at Christian Family Montessori School (CFMS) located in Washington, DC. CFMS is a school that “challenges [students to]...grow in a loving relationship with God,” and this school utilizes the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) curricula. I was particularly impressed with the apparent will development and concentration that I observed in the CFMS’ lower elementary program. I observed a school-aged girl very focused on getting her work done, for the purpose of being able to go into their atrium. She continued working for nearly one straight hour and then pressed her teacher to review her work (note: I later learned that student’s ought to complete a certain amount of work as a prerequisite to entering the atrium). After the teacher approved her work, this girl swiftly moved into the atrium and remained there for nearly the entire remainder of the three-hour morning work cycle. She remained there so long that even upon her return, one of her peers said “why did you spend the entire morning in the atrium?” The reason she gave for spending that dedicated amount of time in the atrium was because she had a [spiritual work] project that she wanted to complete. This type of planning her work and then working her plan demonstrates, to me, focus, concentration and determination; all of which appear to be spiritual disciplines (“spiritual discipline” is a term that Dr. Thurman uses to describe exercises, habits, practices or activities which seek to cultivate one’s spiritual growth and/or one’s character in an effort to foster a closer relationship with God or a Higher Power). Similar, to my reflection upon my Butler YCC observation, I am not discussing CFMS’s adult preparation, their environment or curricula offerings, because that is beyond the scope of this article, but what I am alluding to is the spiritual epiphany that my observation, of these school-aged students, helped me to realize.
Therefore, continuing with the “where’s the beef” line of questioning regarding spirituality in Montessori environments? Well, I can honestly answer that there are some Montessori schools “where spirituality” is intentionally being cultivated. Now my brief article, herein, might evoke the question about whether one might be able to compare the spiritual developmental process of Butler Montessori and/or CFMS in relation to the other over dozen Montessori schools that I have been fortunate to observe. However, that appears to be beyond the scope of this article (which is particularly important for research purposes, given that I did not specifically design a study to explore that type of comparison, nor did I specifically inform those respective schools of that intention).
Nevertheless, I close this article with some questions. On the school level, I wonder how do the student atrium experiences impact the spiritual development of the young child or the adolescent? Also, I am curious to see (if and if so) how many Montessori schools are intentional around nurturing their student’s spiritual development. Furthermore, I wonder how many schools are actively talking with their parents/caregivers about exploring how their student’s Montessori experiences are impacting their spiritual formation. Additionally, I have found that there does not appear to be a central or agreed upon “spiritual development” definition within our Montessori arena as well as a clear understanding of the spiritual dimensions of various class-level activities by multi-aged Montessori students; so, if you are interested you can help us with some current research by submitting your “spiritual development” definition response here. Finally, I am curious to know how many Montessori training centers (or teacher educational programs – TEP) are intentionally exploring their adult learner’s spiritual development; as well as helping those same adult learners to systematically reflect upon how they might frame spiritual development for their future younger students? Again, given the importance that Dr. Montessori placed on spirituality, we might do well with clearly locating “where’s the spirituality?” in our everyday work.
Ayize Sabater (Ed.D) is a dynamic entrepreneur, educational researcher, author (Tell’n Children Our Story) & thirty-year educator. He earned degrees from Morehouse, Wesley and Morgan State. Dr. Ayize has co-founded several organizations, including an independent Black school and a D.C. Montessori Public school. Ayize has repeatedly been featured as a Keynote speaker, received numerous awards including a 2010 educational excellence award, presented by First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House and 2011 National Morehouse Man of the Year. Ayize launched an FM radio show (#UMustLearn), co-founded the Black Montessori Educational Fund (BMEF) and served as Executive Director of AMI/USA, 2020-2024.
Thanks Ayize for your contribution to Provocations!
Notes:
Butler Montessori is a 50+ year old-school, that is situated on a suburban Maryland 22-acre campus and serves more than 100 students, from infancy to adolescence (for more information on Butler see: https://www.butlerschool.org)
Christian Family Montessori School (CFMS) opened approximately 50 years ago as a small neighborhood religious co-op. CFMS began as a small start-up school that opened in the founder’s home. Currently, the school is located in the upper northwest section of Washington, D.C., known as the Petworth section of D.C. Over the years, the school has grown to serve Primary aged children, and it recently expanded to serve students through adolescence. (for more information on CFMS see: https://www.cfmschool.org).
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) is a religious formation curriculum. CGS offers the heart of the Christian faith to children ages 3-12 using the Montessori method. The goal of CGS is to foster the child's own relationship with God using materials, song, art, and individual and communal prayer.
Developed by Sofia Cavalletti in Rome in 1954, CGS uses materials to take a Biblical text or sign from the Catholic liturgy and make it available for ongoing independent reflection by the children. For example, a model of a shepherd and sheep in a sheepfold allow the children to consider and reconsider the parable of the Good Shepherd from the Holy Bible’s Gospel of John. It has been the joyful, peaceful response of the children themselves that has inspired and determined the content of this unique program. (This CGS description was retrieved from https://www.cfmschool.org/programs/catechesis-of-the-good-shepherd and it is interesting to note, that in discussion with & writing from Dr. Anita Vincent, that CGS was also significantly shaped/developed by Gianna Gobbi, who was a directress in a Montessori school in Rome, after being trained by Dr. Maria Montessori).
The Atrium is the environment containing the beautiful materials that focus on the Bible and the Liturgy. [For example] [c]hildren at CFMS have access to an atrium throughout each week. While staff catechists [who are CGS trained educators who function as guides in the atrium] present most of the lessons and materials in the atrium, all of the classroom teachers are familiar with the materials and can assist the children in their use (This atrium description was retrieved from https://www.cfmschool.org/programs/catechesis-of-the-good-shepherd ).
References:
Good, M., & Willoughby, T. (2008). Adolescence as a sensitive period for spiritual development. Child Development Perspectives, 2(1), 32-37.
Kor, A., et al. (2019). A longitudinal study of spirituality, character strengths, subjective well-being & prosociality in middle school adolescents. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 377.
Lawrence, L. (2015). The Revelation of the Universal Child. NAMTA Conference entitled “Fostering Montessori Preparedness for Global Citizenship.” Reprinted in: NAMTA spring journal, vol. 40, no. 2.
Montessori, M. (1948/2021). From Childhood to Adolescence. Montessori-Pierson Publishing, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Montessori, M. (1949/2007). The Absorbent Mind. Montessori-Pierson Publishing, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Note: In this work, not only does she discuss spirituality (including the Spiritual Embryo chapter) but Dr. Montessori actually offers a prayer and even quotes an entire passage from the Holy Bible.
Montessori, M. (1966). The Secret of Childhood. Ballantine Books, New York, NY.
Sabater, A. (2022). Montessori and the Black child. AMI/USA Fall eJournal. (Retrieved from: www.NMConsulting.org/Our Research, see here: Link).
Sabater, A. (2025) 1st and 2nd Plane Observation Report and Completed Annotated Bibliography & Script. Unpublished report, submitted for credential requirement.
Stephen, W. (2012). Patrick Geddes – Biologist or Gardener? Journal of Scottish Thought, Vol. 5, issue #1. Retrieved from: https://jst.aberdeenunipress.org/article/87/galley/87/download/
Thurman, H. (1981). With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman. Harcourt Brace & Company. New York, NY.
Vincent, A. (2022). Religious Education as Covenant Kinship: Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in Adolescent Faith Formation. Doctor of Theology dissertation. La Salle University.
spirituality and character:
https://www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths/spirituality
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