Codifying Montessori for adolescents

Montessori education has rigorous, internationally recognized training for children from birth to twelve. The adolescent level had no equivalent. Practice had grown up school by school, carried mostly through an orientation course rather than a formal diploma. That made it hard to train adults for these programs at any scale or to hold a common quality bar.

What we did

Great Work initiated and facilitated an international coalition, working with Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), to codify curriculum and training standards for Montessori at the adolescent level. An Executive Study Team, overseen by an AMI steering committee, reviewed current practice and the history of the adolescent movement. The initiative's goals were implementation toolkits for 12 to 15 and 15 to 18 programs, an AMI diploma course for adolescent teacher training, and clear pathways for experienced educators to become trainers.

I served on the Executive Study Team. In April 2019 I presented at the AMI Annual General Meeting in Amsterdam on wilderness, natural consequences and the struggling adolescent. That year's AGM was the largest on record, with attendees from more than 57 countries.

Outcome

The standards were adopted by AMI. Alongside the initiative, Great Work stood up Great Work Montessori School, a public AMI Montessori school in Jefferson County, and Train Montessori to support adult training.

Why it matters

This was coalition work with no formal authority over any of the parties. It meant aligning a global standards body, practitioners and trainers across several countries on a shared definition of quality, then funding and staffing the process to a finished standard.