Both Gerard Endenburg (founder of Sociocracy) and Maria Montessori (founder of Montessori Education) were: 

  • Scientists who viewed their place of work (organization/school) as a laboratory;
  • Fueled by a vision of a peaceful world, where power is shared and all needs matter.

Whereas Endenburg studied organizations and Montessori studied humans, both discovered that living systems self-organize/self-construct and complex development is: 

  • Driven by purposeful engagement within the environment;
  • Supported by self-correcting processes, repetition/practice, and cycles of work;
  • Fueled by a hunger for self-realization and creativity
  • Unfolded through a process of differentiation and integration
  • Related to Interdependency

Both Sociocracy and Montessori are Whole System Designs which support lifelong learning and self-optimization.

Historical connections between Sociocracy and Montessori education include:

  • Gerard Endenburg (the Dutch entrepreneur who developed Sociocracy) attended De Werkplaats, in Bilthoven, which uses Maria Montessori’s methodsThis innovative and influential school, was founded by educational and social theorist Kees Boeke.
  • Kees Boeke’s children attended a Montessori school.
  • Like Dr. Montessori, Kees was an educator who became deeply committed to peace, and recognized the value of giving the child a vision of the entire universe.  Kees’ book, best known as Cosmic View, which inspired the filmThe Powers of Ten,” can be translated as “Us in the universe, the universe in us”.)

By Laureen Golden, MEd, LCSW

Healing Our World: Exploring How

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