Association Montessori Internationale (AMI)

A letter by Dr Maria Montessori was behind the creation of the AMI during the 1929 Congress on New Education. This was when Maria Montessori became aware of the need to co-ordinate the dissemination of her ideas and safeguard her method, educational approach and ideas in the name of children.

The head office of the AMI is based in Amsterdam, Holland. The building which houses the secretariat of the AMI was bought by Maria Montessori and Mario Montessori just before their return from India. They lived and worked in this house until their deaths in 1952 and 1982.

Now the AMI keeps all traces of their work and research, documents and books, whether published or not. The objectives of the association are to promote and defend the educational approach and principles of Maria Montessori for the development of humans' full potential.

The association uses all possible means to spread these values:

• Respect for children's rights and raising awareness of the importance of children for the advancement of civilisation.
• Raising awareness of the laws of children's growth to help them to develop naturally at home, at school and in society.
• Challenging public opinion about the moral dignity of children as ""the father of man"" and making clear the true nature of adults' responsibilities to children who must be able to work spontaneously with the aim of reaching full maturity;
• The dissemination and defence of the educational principles and practices created by Dr. Maria Montessori, which guarantee the independence of children's personalities through successive stages of growth until they reach full development by means of their own activity;
• Providing all children with the opportunity to develop normally and harmoniously, thus helping all adults to enter a new life of harmony, understanding and co-operation with children, thereby unifying the two fundamental stages of human life, to pave the way for a more peaceful civilisation;
• Working like a social movement which strives to achieve the recognition of the rights of children all over the world, irrespective of race, religion, political or social beliefs and co-operating with other bodies and organisations which promote education, human rights and peace.
• Supervising the national branches which train professionals in Maria Montessori's educational approach and which adopt these objectives on a national scale,
• Providing permanent educational monitoring and supervision for the examinations for Montessori diplomas

All AMI-approved products are indicated by this logo on our site.

Find out more information on the AMI's website : www.montessori-ami.org