The UVic hosts a seminar of the International Montessori Association, with 21 students from 12 countries around the world participating

The Vic Campus of the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC) played host to the trainers and students on the 0 to 3 years old Trainer of Trainers programme of the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) international programme between 10 and 20 October. The leading institution in this pedagogical method chose UVic for teaching the face-to-face part of this long-term comprehensive training, aimed at teachers with years of experience wishing to train other teachers in the application of the Montessori methodology in the classroom in nursery schools, in the age range from 0 to 3 years. In total, the seminar that took place at UVic was attended by 21 students from 13 different countries, namely the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan, China, Russia, India, Ukraine, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Spain.

The seminar took place in the Montessori Classrooms located in the early childhood education training and research laboratories in the Masia de la Torre dels Frares building. This UVic space is designed so that students and future teachers can work in an environment and with materials designed by Maria Montessori and certified by the AMI.

Julia Hilson, one of the IMA trainers who taught at this year's seminar, explains that "being able to do the training in a university environment and in a university's facilities gives added value to the future instructors' learning", and she adds that all the students "were very interested in the material and the laboratory facilities." Meanwhile, Mònica Kleiner, a trainer on the master's degree in Montessori teaching for 0-3 year-olds, believes that "the quality of the UVic facilities was crucial for the AMI when it chose the campus as the venue for these seminars."

This October's seminar was the penultimate meeting in the Trainer of Trainers series, which initially involved six face-to-face activities spread over the three years of the programme, of which five were to take place at UVic. However, after a first face-to-face event, there was a one-year break in the schedule due to the pandemic, and the following three meetings had to be adapted to an online environment. It was possible to return to a face-to-face format at this penultimate meeting, and the participants returned to the UVic facilities. The last meeting will take place at the AMI headquarters in Amsterdam in April 2023, at the same time as the association's international annual meeting. The objective of Trainer of Trainers is to certify future trainers to ensure quality and high standards in the teaching of this pedagogical method.

The training took place at the Vic Campus within the framework of the collaboration agreement that UVic-UCC and the AMI signed in 2019, under the terms of which the two institutions will jointly undertake teaching, research and knowledge transfer projects. Among other objectives, the agreement aims to promote Montessori education at all levels in Spain, and gives UVic-UCC a leading role in research in Spain, working with the AMI. The University also teaches the university master's degree in Montessori Pedagogy from 0 to 6 years, which provides training for teachers so that they can apply the method in classrooms for children aged between 0 to 3 years old and 3 to 6 years old. It is the only official European master's degree in the Montessori method of teaching which is recognised and validated by the AMI worldwide.