UVic-UCC and Association Montessori Internationale sign a cooperation agreement

The University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia and Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) have signed a cooperation agreement between the two institutions. This cooperation agreement will cover teaching, research and knowledge transfer between the two organisations.

The agreement aims to promote Montessori education at all levels in Spain, and to give UVic-UCC a leading role in research in Spain, working with AMI. The "Trainer of Trainers" programme, a comprehensive training programme for trainers on the Master's degree course, will also be available in order to ensure quality and high standards in the teaching of the subject. Joint research projects will be carried out and the Montessori Research Chair will be established, and the mobility of students and teachers between the two institutions will be encouraged.

UVic-UCC has had a long-standing commitment to teaching using Maria Montessori's pedagogical method on the programme of the Master's degree in Montessori Education, the only one in Europe to have been validated by AMI. In addition, UVic has training and research laboratories for early childhood education at its Masia de Torre dels Frares facility: the Teresa Buscart Classroom and the Montessori Classroom, which are educational spaces with the real dimensions and proportions of a nursery or infant school, which students can use and learn according to the same processes experienced by the children.

The University has welcomed the signing of this agreement. The Dean of the Faculty of Education, Translation and Humanities (FETCH), Eduard Ramírez, believes that "this agreement reinforces the existing partnership between UVic-UCC, Montessori Palau Girona and Montessori Institute of San Diego, and AMI recognises the history and educational model of the Master's Degree in Montessori Education that has been established by the Faculty and UVic-UCC." According to Ramírez, "the agreement positions us internationally as a training centre with unbeatable facilities and spaces for training future professionals related to Early Childhood Education and Montessori Education."

Association Montessori Internationale was founded by Dr Maria Montessori in 1929, in order to protect the integrity of her life's work and to ensure its continuity. It is the world's oldest Montessori international organisation, and is recognised as an authority in the field. It offers knowledge for aspiring trainers and thereby guarantees the content of their educational programmes.

The Montessori method consists of fostering the child's personal growth, helping them to access the emotional and social world, and encouraging the creation of a full intellectual capacity, in an adapted environment that promotes their development.

A la foto: Lynne Lawrence i Eduard Ramírez