Montessori Centenary Conference in Stockholm

From 16 to 17 November 2007 a Montessori Centenary Conference was organized in Stockholm (Sweden) by the Montessori Department of the Teacher College (Lärerhögskolan) of Stockholm (Eva Maria Ahlquist, Per Gynther, Josefine Larsson) with support from Göteborg University, Lund University, Malmö University, and Kristianstad University. There were about 300 participants, most of them from Sweden and Norway. The speakers were scholars from different European countries: Prof. Gunnar Sundgren (Lärerhögskolan in Stockholm, Sweden); Prof. Clara Tornar (Università Roma Tre, Italy), Prof. Harald Ludwig (University of Muenster, Germany), Prof. Nadeshda Tarassenko (Belgorod State University, Russia), Prof. Francis Douglas (University College Cork, Ireland), Prof. Christina Gustafsson (Uppsala Universitet, Sweden), Prof. Raniero Regni (Libera Università degli Studi Maria SS. Assunta di Roma, Italy). The lectures focused on and demonstrated the topicality of Montessori Education from different points of view. The Power Point Presentations of the lectures can be found and downloaded from the following address: www.lhs.se/montessori100ar. (Click there on “Program”). A short address on behalf of the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) was given by Prof. Ludwig, member of the AMI Board, who invited all to participate in AMI’s Open Forum.

An important result of the conference was the foundation of “MORE” (MOntessori Research Europe). This is intended to become a network of Montessori researchers across Europe, whose aim is to improve communication between universities and other academic institutions in Europe that are involved in research in the field of Montessori Pedagogy. An electronic Newsletter with news on Montessori Research will be sent twice a year to the members of the network. The MORE group will be meeting once a year, probably in connection with the annual meetings of Montessori Europe. It is also hoped to establish a working relation with AMI as the worldwide Montessori organisation.

All speakers of the conference and some other persons joined MORE in Stockholm. Harald Ludwig, Germany, agreed to be the group’s coordinator.

If you wish to join this network, please contact Harald Ludwig, Muenster University: ludwigh@uni-muenster.de or haraldludwig@hotmail.com (website: http://egora.uni-muenster.de/ew/mz) or to Eva Maria Ahlquist, Teacher College of Stockholm: Eva-Maria.Ahlquist@lhs.se (website: www.lhs.se/montessori100ar).

Membership of the network does not come with a membership fee in money, but everybody who wants to join should be prepared to report occasionally on their own Montessori research or the research of others.