The history and evolution of the Montessori community has unfolded with only limited and imperfect harmony and cooperation among its diverse members since 1907. While Montessori teaching began as simple, pure observation of young children, it soon took on the control and personality of Dr. Montessori herself. Since this “personality” type of Montessori teaching depended so heavily on Dr. Montessori’s own personal presence, the worldwide outreach of the Montessori community became confused and compromised as practitioners far away were drawn into the influence of various forms of conventional education.
In America, in the period from 1912-15, Dr. Montessori was personally present to introduce her “new education” for a while, receiving great praise and a brief period of growth of the Montessori community in this country. However, differences between Dr. Montessori’s personal approach and the American preference for “culture” type philosophy soon ended that hopeful beginning of the American Montessori community. As a result, the practice of any type of Montessori teaching in America all but disappeared until a resurgence occurred after Dr. Montessori’s death in 1952.
In the 1960’s, “Montessori” again became popular, especially as it adopted to the ‘culture’ of the American style of education. However, there also arose Dr. Montessori’s “personality” approach in America as well, which came into conflict with many in the American Montessori community. Soon, these differences became hardened as a fixed disharmony between the Association Montessori International (AMI – personality) and the American Montessori Society (AMS – culture).
With the founding of the International Montessori Society (IMS) in 1979, a third type of Montessori teaching arose that followed laws of nature, which is the original scientific observation that Dr. Montessori employed when she discovered the child’s true nature in 1907. The IMS type of Montessori teaching is therefore called “true natural” because it exactly duplicates the original scientific observation of Dr. Montessori’s “new education”. These three basic types of Montessori teaching, personality, culture, and true natural, now strive together for loyalty, as well as harmony and cooperation to represent Montessori education in the world..
Recent efforts for harmony and cooperation in the Montessori community have emerged in the field of accreditation of Montessori teacher education. The IMS has offered, for example, to bring harmony and cooperation in throughout the entire Montessori community through the operation of an inclusive umbrella accrediting agency, International Montessori Accreditation Council (IMAC). However, at present, neither AMS nor AMI have shown interest to participate. So, each organization seeks to bring loyalty, as well as harmony and cooperation among their own teachers and schools, giving little attention to the existence of those outside their particular field of influence and authority.