History of AMI Teacher Training

(See also History of AMI Assistants to Infancy Training below.)

In 1907 Dr. Montessori began her life's work in San Lorenzo with a group of children aged three to six years. The 'discovery of the child' that took place in this original Casa dei Bambini attracted attention from around the world.

The demand for Montessori teacher training soon followed and in 1909 Dr. Montessori conducted the first training course for teachers. The course was offered annually and was attended mainly by Italian teachers. In 1912, with the translation into English of Dr. Montessori's book, "The Montessori Method" international interest in her approach grew to a furore. In 1913 the first international course was held in Rome. In was attended by eighty students mostly from America but some as far a field as Australia.

In 1919 Dr. Montessori held her first training course in England. The Daily News reported at the time: "That famous woman pioneer in children's education, Dr. Maria Montessori arrived in London to give a training course - her first in this country - to British teachers. The course is limited to an attendance of 250 persons, but over two thousand applications have been made." Subsequently, Dr. Montessori went every second year to London to hold similar courses. From 1920 to 1930 she gave national courses also in Austria, Germany, Holland and Italy.

In 1929 Dr. Montessori created the Association Montessori Internationale to give structure to her work, and to ensure that it would be perpetuated after her death in accordance with her pedagogical, psychological and practical guidelines.

The movement continued to grow throughout the world with courses being offered throughout Europe in the 1930's. In 1939 the inaugural training course was held in India with further courses to be offered throughout India and Pakistan. Dr. Montessori continued to travel and work throughout Europe and Asia, lecturing and writing, leaving a vast body of work on education and the full development of the human being.

After Maria Montessori's death in 1952, the movement gradually subsided and took on another direction, becoming more restricted in scope, its activities channelled under the wise direction of her son, Mario Montessori towards establishing permanent Montessori centres for training teachers and training trainers to continue the work of the centres.

In 1973, the Mario Montessori 75 Fund, a non-profit philanthropical foundation, was created by friends and colleagues of Dr. Montessori's son, Mario Montessori, in order to assist the professional training and preparation of Montessori trainers.

In order to meet the increasing demand for qualified AMI Trainers, a more structured approach was essential and in 1974 the Training of Trainers Programme was established. The Sponsoring committee of the Association Montessori Internationale continues to guide candidates through the Training of Trainers Programme towards the goal of becoming AMI Teacher Trainers.

Today, AMI accredited courses are offered in 35 centres around the world with new teacher trainers completing the Training of Trainers programme every year. The courses offered by the Association Montessori Internationale prepare adults to work with children at three levels: Assistants to Infancy (0-3), Casa dei Bambini (3-6) and Elementary (6-12).

The Association Montessori Internationale continues to ensure the continuation and propagation of Dr. Montessori's work. Three initiatives: the establishment of the Educateurs sans Frontières; the creation of an International Study Centre and the organisation of The Archives will ensure the growth of Dr Montessori's ideas into the next century.

History of AMI Assistants to Infancy Training

In Rome in 1947, Dr. Montessori realised that starting with children aged three years and older was too late to have the most powerful effect. She facilitated the formation of the first Montessori class for children from one to three years of age. Soon an Assistants to Infancy course for adults began. This was a two year course, held every day. The staff included paediatricians and other Montessori people and in the beginning the students were mainly Montessori mothers and teachers.

In 1957 a sub-specialty of the Assistants to Infancy course was offered. This was an additional third year of training during which one learned about the last two months of pregnancy and the first two months of the newborn's life, known as the "symbiotic period."

In 1961 the "Centro Nacito Montessori", a birth centre, was organised to:

1. study the problems related to pregnancy and the puerperium (the time immediately following birth).

2. find solutions for the problems of pregnancy and puerperium, and

3. help pregnant women, or women who had just given birth, find an Assistant to Infancy to help at home, a referral service as it were. Assistants to Infancy at this time sometimes actually moved in with the family and cared for the mother and baby for several weeks.

In 1980 Dr. Silvana Quatrocchi Montanaro began the A.M.I. Assistants to Infancy Course in Rome. In 1983 The first two-summer Assistants to Infancy course was held in the United States of America. Since that time there have been courses given in Rome, London, Mexico, Osaka, Japan and several cities in the USA.