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Montessori Australia Council – Celebrating ten months down – what have we achieved?
As we reflect on what our affiliation with the International Montessori Council has really meant – we are overwhelmed with how much has been achieved. It has been the most enormous amount of work – but worth every bit of it.
Read on to see this year in review....
We are passionate about Montessori education and endeavour to meet the need to facilitate knowledge and skills acquisition, networking, mentoring and life long learning. We are committed to spreading the word about the benefits of Montessori Education and ensuring that Montessori professionals and families are supported in a positive manner. The MAC vision is that Montessori education be available to everyone.
Our membership drive began with the launch of the MAC through a new website, Logo, brochures and mail out to schools on 26th January 2009. Individual, school and business members have been sought, with the emphasis on school and individual membership. Our mission is to build constructive partnerships, develop and support Montessori education and foster all works towards peace through our Code of Ethics and Principles of Good Practice.
What have we achieved?
In April 2009 we held the first MAC conference Nurturing the Human Spirit at the Chifley Hotel in Brisbane with 100+ attendees. Our keynotes were Dr. Paul Epstein, Dr. Margie Carter and Tim Seldin. The conference received a lot of very positive feedback relating to the calibre of all our presenters and the selection of topics. We were also very pleased with the response from exhibitors.
The conference was followed by a Master Class Finding the Perfect Match which was facilitated by Tim Seldin with 12 attendees.
In addition to organising the conference we have produced MAC e-News, continually updated and added articles to the website, registered members, supported schools and individual members and organised professional development opportunities. We have published Tomorrows Child in collaboration with the International Montessori Foundation and now Montessori Matters. As we have dealt with each new idea, topic and issue we have discussed how we can best cater to individual needs. In doing this we have been able to produce policies and procedures to support our members and the organisation itself. For the families who have submitted their email addresses, logins to the members area of the website has been a much appreciated benefit.
Australia (the Montessori Australia Council) is the first country to become a fully fledged affiliate (chapter in US terms). This is a very exciting adventure for both organisations. We are however completely autonomous. It has taken some time for both organisations to understand how our different cultures work and how we can support and learn from each other.
We have offered a number of professional development sessions in different states and this has been very successful. We have experimented using different technologies e.g. DVD lectures, visiting speakers, Skype connections. As our country is so huge and our membership so spread, it will take some creative enterprise to service all members in this regard. If you have any suggestions – please let us know.
A new look Montessori Matters has gone to the printer and deliveries will be made early next week. This edition has embraced stories from home and overseas and ideas for all the age groups. It is a major benefit to member schools families. We encourage articles and photographs to be submitted at any stage for consideration in the magazine which will be bi-annual.
Our admin officer Lucy Delaney has left us due to the pressures of study. Lucy set many of our systems in place and we are very grateful for her input. We have welcomed Kylie Dean as our new office manager and look forward to her ideas and skills assisting us as we grow.
Work is currently under way for the 2010 International Montessori Conference to be held in Perth next April. Our theme is Communication – Breaking Down the Barriers. We are building a program with a wide variety of workshops that will offer a range of topics supporting this theme. We will be looking at: recent research on brain development and how Montessori teaching can be used to stimulate multi-sensory learning; the Montessori prepared environment, how we communicate with children as a group , a generation and as individuals; today’s communication facilities and their relationship between Montessori education and the 21st –century; the communication skills needed to build social tolerance in order to develop global citizens and introducing a second language into the programme.
Two Master Classes (Perth and Brisbane) will be offered to members and facilitated by Dr. Paul Epstein. Learning from Children with the Montessori C.O.R.E. (Connect, Observe, Reflect, Enable) will be a 2 day in depth look at what observation really means to the Montessori practitioner. Further details are available on the website.
In addition to the conference we will also be running a concurrent Public event, Partnering children for the 21st Century. This will be an introduction to Dr Maria Montessori’s educational vision, from 0- 18.
Conference website – our new Conference micro-site has also been launched. This is where all up to date information on the conference, Public Event and Master Classes can be found. As information and details come in they will be undated on this site, which will be accessed through our normal website. Please visit uswww.montessori.edu.au very soon,
On behalf of the board and office I would like to extend our best wishes to all our Montessori staff and families. I wish you a joyful and safe Christmas break.
Sincerely,
Eva Nislev
on behalf of the MAC Board.
Seng Dan Fai Lok, Sang Nian Fai Lok; Gldelig Jul og godt nytr; Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar; Gajan Kristnaskon & Bonan Novjaron; Sal-e no Mubarak; Joyeux Noel et Bonne Anne; Frohe Weihnachten und ein glückliches Neues Jahr; Kala Christougenna Kieftihismenos O Kenourios Chronos; Shubh Naya Baras; Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto; Selamat Hari Natal & Selamat Tahun Baru; Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
Feliz Navidad; Pax hominibus bonae voluntatis
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