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The Montessori Community |
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As Dr. Maria Montessori sought to communicate her work and discoveries throughout the world, institutional support for the training and certification of teachers became an important aspect of the outward appearance of the "Montessori community" . Since 1907, the problem has been ongoing to unify efforts among those interested and involved in her work.
Although such prominent personalities as Alexander Graham Bell provided considerable initial support for Montessori education in the United States, Dr. Montessori acted with extreme caution in allowing use of her name by others - particularly in circumstances involving the training and certification of teachers. Personality conflic t s in this area were exacerbated by lack of effective communication, physical distance and disruption of world wars. Without a consistent organizational support to assure the cooperation of diverse personalities interested in her work, Dr. Montessori's efforts to expand her vision of a new education essentially disappeared in the United States soon after her visit to this country in 1912 - and did not reappear here until after her death in 1952.
The following summarizes the history and development of the Montessori community to date.
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Association Montessori Internationale (AMI)
Prior to 1952, the "Montessori community" consisted essentially of Dr. Montessori's personal communication and relationships established and maintained through her various travels and teacher education activities in Italy, England, Spain, Holland, India and elsewhere. In the 1920's, the "Association Montessori Internationale" (AMI) was established by Dr. Montessori to protect and promote the name of "Montessori". The AMI provided certification of teachers, copyright control of her published writings and coordination of the activities of various regional "Montessori" organizations. Dr. Montessori placed authority and control of this organization in the hands of her son, Mario Montessori , who continued in this capacity until his death in 1982. Thereafter, AMI has continued active as a support organization by receiving royalties for Dr. Montessori's published writings, collecting fees for AMI certification and training of teachers - and otherwise providing school recognition and services for its membership. Its philosophical orientation and practical functioning is closely associated with the person of Dr. Montessori herself, and the personal relationships that developed with those most close to her during her life. |
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American Montessori Society
In the 1950's, the efforts to revive Montessori education in the United States initially centered around Nancy Rambusch , an AMI trained teacher who sought to represent the interests of AMI in this country at that time. When certain personality and cultural disputes arose with Mario Montessori, AMI sought to reassert its control through another representative, Margaret Stephenson , who established an AMI teacher education center in the United States. These disputes gradually resulted in the formation of a separate "American Montessori Society" (AMS) - whose control and authority was distinct from AMI. Ms. Rambusch led the AMS to organize its own form of control board of directors, certification of teachers and separate support for its own membership and school recognition. Its philosophical orientation is generally to fit Montessori education into the American conventional culture. |
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"Montessori" in the Public Domain
In the 1960's, disputes between AMI and AMS resulted in a legal decision in the United States which held that use of the name "Montessori" was now in the public domain as a "generic term". With the legal resolution of this name/control issue, many non-AMI expressions of "Montessori" have since emerged according to the diverse interests and needs of various personalities in the field.
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St. Nicholas Montessori College
The "Montessori Centre Internationale" and the "Montessori World Educational Institute" developed from the activity in England of the "St. Nicholas Montessori College", which had been offering teacher education in that country since before 1952. Founded by Margaret Humphries and Phoebe Child , the St. Nicholas organization offered correspondence courses, materials, and workshops in many diverse locations throughout the world. In the 1980's, Margaret Humphries left the St. Nicholas Association to form the "Montessori World Educational Institute" (MWEI) organization. Based in California, this new organization provides correspondence courses and teacher education in various locations. The "Montessori Centre Internationale" (MCI) represents another offshoot of the St. Nicholas Montessori Association. MCI emerged first 1980's as the "London Montessori Centre", founded by Leslie Briton. MCI provides correspondence courses and workshops in association with its local affiliates throughout the world. The philosophical orientation of these organizations largely center on the personalities of its principals, and the British cultural traditions where these organizations are primarily functioning.
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International Montessori Society
In 1976, Lee Havis developed an independent study course and participated in the formation of the "National Center for Montessori Education" (NCME). NCME provided certification of teachers, association of teacher education programs and other services for its members from 1976-79. In 1979, he sought to separate NCME from its non-Montessori sponsoring organization, to continue the work of its affiliated training institutions within a new, separate context to be known as "International Montessori Society" (IMS). This new organization would operate under the direct responsibility of Havis, to preserve, continue and enlarge the integrity and dissemination of new knowledge and research that he was developing in the field. However, the NCME owner chose to sell its interest in the organization to other parties, who have since pursued their own distinctive path of development. This NCME organization continues to operate according to the interests and needs of its affiliated training institutions, offering teacher certification programs, an annual conference and periodicals for its members and associates.
In 1979, Havis resigned from NCME, severing all ties with the associated non-Montessori ownership entity. He then established IMS as a totally new, separate and independent organization, to proceed in offering a broad range of support services for Montessori education, centered around the new contextual orientation of commitment to laws of nature. Such services include IMS teacher education, publications and workshop seminars. Its primary purpose is to support the effective application of Montessori principles throughout the world.
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Many Montessori Organizations
In 1971, Dr. Helen Billings developed an independent study course which gradually led to the formation of the "Montessori Institute of America" (MIA). Based in Kansas City, MO, the MIA affiliates training centers and provides membership recognition for its associated schools. The "Pan American Montessori Association" was formed by Dr. Elizabeth Caspari to provide teacher education and other support services in accordance with her personal study and learning experience with Dr. Montessori. The "International Association of Progressive Montessorians" (IAPM) is another organizational expression of Montessori education. Founded by Angela Martin , this organization provides its own distinctive certification and training of teachers and association of schools. These organizations have evolved their forms of operation in the process of change over time, largely following the philosophical orientation of their founding principals.
Throughout the world, there are many diverse organizations to train and represent Montessori education, according to their own various philosophical orientations. Some aim to represent Montessori education within the bounds of certain countries and cultures. Others attempt to bridge the differences between different organizations, to represent a loose type of regional or country-wide affiliation and membership
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Independent Montessori Teacher Education Programs
Many unaffiliated independent teacher education programs have also emerged from the widespread activity and interest in Dr. Montessori's work over the years - each program having its own separate identity, teacher certification and support for operation. During the 1940's, Dr. Montessori conducted several teacher education courses in India and Pakistan - and her efforts in this region of the world have led to the formation of various teacher education programs which have grown and enlarged their own disstinctive operation since 1952. . Some training programs have no organizational identification, and follow the guiding beliefs and ideas of its founding principals, or institutional sponsors, which may vary widely from Dr. Montessori original scientific approach to discover the child.
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Harmony and Cooperation
Efforts to harmonize and unify the various diverse personalities and expressions of the "Montessori community" have revolved around such issues as government recognition of Montessori teacher education. AMS and AMI, two of the largest Montessori organizations, have both sought their own exclusive "recognition" of accreditation by the US federal government. Organizations such as IMS have consistently opposed this type of exclusionary recognition as being divisive and contrary to constructive cooperation, progress and creative vitality in Montessori education. The IMS supports instead the recognition of a fully "inclusive" umbrella accrediting agency for the entire Montessori community.
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Montessori Accreditation
In 1992, a Montessori accrediting agency known as "Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education" (MACTE) was formed to join such groups as AMS, MIA and NCME under a single "umbrella" association. Since MACTE standards require certain exclusionary academic content, format and majority based decision making, IMS declined to participate. In 1994, IMS formed the inclusive "umbrella" accrediting agency known as "International Montessori Accreditation Council" (IMAC) . The IMAC structure was established as an inclusive accrediting agency for the entire Montessori community - with standards and criteria broad enough to include all recognized formats and expression of teacher education in the field. In IMAC, consensus decision making is favored and built into all IMAC standards and requirements. The IMAC agency defines Montessori teaching broadly as the teacher being committed to support normal development in children as described by Dr. Montessori's in her various published texts on the subject after 1907. The dialogue to reconcile and harmonize these various efforts at cooperation and interrelated functioning in Montessori education continue forward in the process of constant creative growth and change of the "Montessori community".
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Vision for Montessori education, taking into account the existing infrastructure of people, programs, schools, etc.
A vision of "Montessori" is already expressing itself through the function of the entire diversity of personalities and organizations in the Montessori community. Perhaps a most suitable unifying inquiry and central focus for this vision would be the question "what is 'Montessori'?" - to help address and resolve the many unknown errors of action, misunderstanding, false assumptions and miscommunication in the field.
On the subject of "vision", IMS views Montessori teaching as a way of being committed to laws of nature. It functions to "control of the environment, not the child", requiring precise and exacting technology, to effectively conduct a scientific observation of children. Imperfect human nature spawns many diverse variations and understanding of what is Montessori. Beyond these imperfect expressions and representations of Montessori in society, there is the child's true nature to discover - a unifying reality in the realm of the spirit. This is the normalized child that Dr. Montessori discovered with a perfect inner guidance for its own self-directed development in harmony with its entire environment. To allow this true normalized child to emerge in the world seems mostly likely as the true underlying purpose of Montessori education. This is what Dr. Montessori said would bring about a new and better humanity.
Laws of nature are beyond words, limitations, definition and control by the human personality. IMS believes that ulitmately it is one's committed action on in compliance with these laws that will determine and form the progress and work of Dr. Montessori's great vision of a new education..
Many new forms and expressions associated with the name "Montessori" may come about as parents become more aware of their responsibilities and have greater freedom of choice in the education of their children. Non-traditional education and home schooling alternatives are already well established and growing in society today. Modern computer technology will certainly expand even further these new forms of expression - as parents and the general public become more aware of the great abundance of alternative information and resources available in the field.
Certainly, Montessori accreditation and other such interrelated organizational expressions could provide a unifying forum for discourse, debate and participation about Montessori - to elevate knowledge and create greater awareness of Montessori principles in the general public. Perhaps these various expressions will one day find a way to come together for a more harmonious interrelated functioning and cooperation in the Montessori community. However, IMS sees real unity only coming about through experience built on infinite and eternal laws of nature. As a unifying basis, our imperfect human efforts at this unity imust follow such concepts as inclusivity and consensus.
In 2003, IMS has been offering a comprehensive technology of Montessori teaching, a set of tools that anyone can use to create the normalizing environment that Dr. Montessori first created in 1907. This new technology offers hope for practical progress of Montessori education, beyond the confines of conventional organizations, which are generally bound by limited concepts and practices of the past.
The Montessori community may be seen as a collection of all those using this word to describe their activities in education. Certainly, this has some association with her published writings as related to the central vision and discovery of the "normalized". Anyone can therefore answer the pertinent questions about Montessori for themselves through self-directed thought, study and independent judgment. . So, the Montessori community will continue to evolve and express itself according to the words and actions of those involved in this process; progressing forward in whatever new or changed forms of expression may arise in the future to represent Dr. Montessori's vision of a new education in the world.
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Other Montessori Resources of the Internet
 Michael's Montessori Links to the Internet
An on-line IMS discussion group, intmonsoc (International Montessori Society) is available for anyone to join at no charge. You can join at: yahoogroups.com The group includes those who have attended IMS workshops, and practitioners who are actively involved in using the IMS technology of Montessori teaching with children. To subscribe to this list, send an email to - intmonsoc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com , and then follow instructions to request placement on the list.
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