Many of you have already indicated your willingness to participate. It is AMI’s responsibility to offer you effective opportunities to contribute. We like to call ourselves a social movement. A social movement is made of people who get together because they share a set of values, a common wisdom and a corpus of knowledge and because they feel comfortable that the group they are joining is organised to be an effective instrument to initiate and promote the social changes that they believe are possible and suitable.

The common values, wisdom and knowledge are the core of Maria Montessori’s legacy. The values proclaim the primacy of the child, the wisdom demands that we observe and follow the child, the knowledge is the product of Maria and Mario Montessori’s scientific work. We, in AMI,  are the recipients of this heritage. We have the obligation to preserve and develop it. Our first challenge is therefore to be the guardian of the doctrine and the very strict promoters of excellence in its implementation. I believe that we have fulfilled that responsibility very well and we must and will continue to do so. I observe, however, that we need to give a renewed emphasis to the continuation of the scientific work. As Maria Montessori said many times, “the method ...must always be enriched and perfected”. Clearly more research is needed in certain fields like the adolescents and a concerted effort is required to associate the world of Universities and researchers in education.

Our second challenge is to contribute to the social changes that are at the heart of Maria Montessori’s vision. Our practice shows us that the children can be made the agents of change, leading to a more harmonious and peaceful society. But we cannot but recognize that we are still very far from the minimum number of children that is needed to make a true difference. This is a fact that we all know very well. But the challenge is so great that we, somehow, tend to shy away from it!  We need to be bold, imaginative and determined. We need to start concrete action in three directions: to recruit more trainees, to train more trainers, and to convince more partners in the Montessori world to accept the level of excellence indispensable for a successful implementation of the method.

I am happy to report that action has already started. Since the last meeting of the AMI Board, the structure of the Association is being overhauled to make it more action-oriented and more practical. Five committees have been established and started working. The Scientific Pedagogy Committee, led by Annette Haines, will continue to preserve the highest standards of the AMI label and will orchestrate the renewed effort on research. The Human Resource Committee, led by Lynne Lawrence, will energise the campaign for accelerating recruitment of trainees and training of trainers. The Membership and Partnership Committee, led by Rinze Hoekstra will plan activities to increase the number of individual members and institutional partners, and will offer them more opportunities to participate in the life of the Association. The Finance Committee, led by Pieter van der Linden, will explore new avenues to increase and diversify our funding sources. And, last but not least, the Communication Committee, led by Alexander Henny, will invigorate our capacity to spread the message and improve the visibility of AMI.

These five committees are currently working hard to prepare their plans of action. The Organisational Development Planning Committee, which originally proposed this new structure, will meet before the end of November to review these plans.

In the meantime, practical work has started to finalise the recording of the Montessori archives with a view to eventually making them available ‘on line’ for all Montessorians. This work is essential as a worldwide reference and as material for research. We are very grateful to Mrs O. Oppenheimer for a generous grant that makes this project possible.

As you all know, in January 2007 the world of Montessori will celebrate its first century of existence. This is not only a cause for celebration and a reason to be very proud of our achievement, but a unique occasion to launch a new start and to face together the challenges that I mentioned earlier. It is AMI’s intention to make the best possible use of this opportunity. We have asked Megan Tyne, who has proved her organising skills in leading the Australian team that made the success of the Congress in Sydney, to chair a Centenary Committee in order to conduct the preparation of the celebration. The work has started full speed. You all will soon hear from Megan…and your contributions and participation will be sought and are welcome.

All these activities are putting a heavy burden on our very small secretariat and I must pay a special tribute to all its members and to the quiet but steady leadership of Mary Hayes. Without them nothing would be possible.

The world of Montessori, and AMI in particular, is going through very exciting times. We have many reasons to be confident in a great future. We have the vision, we have the knowledge, we have the experience and we are a group of  learned, talented and dedicated people. How could we fail ?

In ending this first message I must repeat how much I feel privileged to be with you at this wonderful moment. And I must express deep thanks to Renilde Montessori for her trust and confidence, and for being a continuous source of inspiration. 

André Roberfroid