Self-Esteem and Academic Anxiety of High School Students with Montessori and Traditional Method of Education

Montessori Method of education focuses on students overall development. Montessori Method of education is designed not only to focus on academic skills of the students but also it gives importance for the development of the student's social and behavioral skills. Hence the present study aimed to assess the self-esteem and academic anxiety of students with Montessori and traditional method of education. It was hypothesized that the students of Montessori Method of education have higher self-esteem and lower academic anxiety compared to traditional method of education. In order to verify the above hypothesis a sample of 124 students were selected from the schools which offer education with Montessori (N=60) and traditional method (N=64). Tools used for the study were the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Academic Anxiety Scale for Children developed by Singh and Sen Gupta. The collected data were subjected to `t` analysis and the major findings of the study revealed that the students of Montessori Method of education has significantly higher self-esteem and significantly lower academic anxiety compared to traditional school students.