My aim is to create the best possible conditions for Montessori Adolescent education. I have worked for 13 years running a Montessori Adolescent Program in a public government school, which is a great way to make Montessori learning more accessible.
I am an advocate for Montessori in public schools, and for widening the base of Montessori Adolescent education. Generally AMI encourages an enrolment target of 75% - 80% of students coming from Montessori Primary programs. Demographically we have been unable to achieve this but have regularly proved that we can apply a true-to-Montessori approach with a majority of students coming from diverse primary backgrounds.
There are pros and cons working in a government school. We work to fully embrace the pros and to adjust ourselves to the cons, seeing these not as barriers, but as potentials for adaptation to Montessori philosophy.
We run a cycle 4 of years 7 – 9, after which our students join the wider school for their senior years. We aim to assist them to self-construction and help them become the best person they can be by the time they move on. We continue to push the Montessori ideal of “Great Work”, which has enabled our Montessori graduates to become school captains and dux-of-school at a rate far exceeding their numerical ratio.
I believe much of my mission can best be seen in our annual MAP Theatre Tour. As part of our literacy program, we spend one term each year creating a theatrical performance, based on great literature from Shakespeare to the Brothers Grimm. To achieve “authentic work” I believed we needed an authentic audience, not just family and friends. To this end, each year we take our show – workshopped and written over 5 weeks, rehearsed and costumed over 4 weeks – on the road. We travel from Monday to Friday, staying at a new location every night. Each day the students visit 2 different schools, and perform in a location they haven’t seen before – hitting the stage 15 minutes after arrival. Sometimes there is a stage, sometimes just a classroom or even a basketball court. At the end, they have 15 minutes to pack everything back on the bus and head to the next location. All this from adolescents who are not drama students, but who learn interdependency and adaptability to support each other in this wonderful endeavour.
