AMI was constituted in 1929, by Maria Montessori, to maintain and develop her pedagogy with the purpose of making it available to as many children as possible worldwide. The AMI Pedagogical Committee and the AMI Materials Committee determine the nature of Montessori educational materials in use worldwide and AMI maintains legal contracts with authorised manufacturers; Nienhuis in the Netherlands, Gonzagarredi in Italy, Matsumoto in Japan and Agaworld in South Korea.
History
The Association Montessori Internationale is the sole Montessori organisation founded by Montessori herself. It was founded in August 1929 by Maria and her son Mario in Helsingør, Denmark during a period in which they were enduring increasing hostility with the rise of fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain. In 1936 Montessori relocated her family from Barcelona, where they had lived since 1917, to Laren, North Holland and the AMI office to a premises in De Lairessestraat, Amsterdam. At the outbreak of World War II Maria was on a lecture tour of India with her son Mario and as Italian citizens in a hostile country they were held under house arrest and internment respectively until the end of the war. Ada Montessori Pierson, Mario's wife to be, maintained AMI in Amsterdam during the war years until the return of Maria and Mario in 1947. Just prior to her return to Amsterdam in 1947 the house at 161 Koninginneweg was purchased for her as her home and as an office for AMI. Her study in the building survives as a monument. During this post-war period Maria Montessori was particularly active in helping in the establishment of UNESCO and immediately following her return to Europe in 1947 she addressed the newly constituted organisation on the subject of 'Education and Peace'. Her last public engagement was in London in 1951 when she attended the 9th AMI International Montessori Congress. On 6th May 1952 Maria died bequeathing her legacy in AMI to her son Mario. AMI was subsequently registered by Dutch Royal Decree in the Netherlands on 24 January 1954 as Internationale Montessori Vereniging. Mario Montessori took the position of General Secretary of AMI after Maria's death in 1952 until he died in 1982. Ada Montessori Pierson succeeded him and remained AMI General Secretary until her death in 1988 when Hilla Patell was appointed, ad interim, prior to Fahmida Malik taking the role. During his period as AMI General Director Mario Montessori appointed Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambusch in 1958 to represent AMI in the USA. Dr. Rambusch went on to found the American Montessori Societyin September 1960. In 1973, on the 75th birthday of Mario Montessori, the Mario Montessori 75 Fund, was established as a non-profit foundation in his honour with the purpose of assisting the funding of professional training in Montessori education. The fund is administered by AMI.
Structure
AMI remains headquartered in Amsterdam at 161-163 Koninginneweg in the building purchased by Maria Montessori and a neighbouring building purchased for expansion in 2010. AMI maintains a membership of over 5,000 individuals and it has now grown to encompass a global network of 42 legal affiliates in 36 countries including its USA Affiliated Office Association Montessori International of the United States which was established as a US 501 not-for-profit organisation in 1972 by Mario Montessori, Richard Salzmann and Albert L. Ledgard, Jr. AMI has 64 teacher training centres in 32 countries around the world and it incorporates a global outreach division Educateurs sans Frontières. Educateurs sans Frontières, also known as EsF, was originally conceived by Maria Montessori in 1917 during World War 1 as the 'White Cross'. It was legally constituted by her granddaughter, Renilde Montessori, as 'Educateurs sans Frontiéres' and as a subsidiary of AMI, whilst Renilde was AMI General Secretary. EsF maintains active initiatives in extreme circumstances in an expanding number of countries. AMI is associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information and is admitted in partnership at UNESCO. Maria Montessori was instrumental in the founding of UNESCO and Jaime Torres Bodet held a UNESCO reception in her honour on 7 December 1949. AMI is a supporter of the Montessori Model United Nations.
International Montessori Congress
Every four years AMI holds an International Congress. The 9th Congress in London, United Kingdom in 1951 was Montessori's last public engagement before she died. The most recent, the 28th International Congress, was held in Prague, Czech Republic from 27–30 July 2017 with an attendance of 1,800. The 28th Congress was supported by 17 Montessori associations. The 29th International Montessori Congress will be held in Bangkok, Thailand on 16–19 July 2021.
