AMI Montessori Event & Visit to Village School in Romania, Fall 2026
During this time of Montessori work in the fall of 2026, my hostess and friend Catalina Ivan and I visited the Potângeni school in the country. Nine years ago, Lenuta, the kindergarten teacher visited the Montessori school of Iasi and attended workshops; the teachers and students from the Montessori school visited the village school; and the sharing between these two ways of educating children began.
To back up a bit, Catalina’s husband was for ten years the representative at the European Parliament in Brussels for the poor villages in this area. After these years of attempting to help his constituents through politics he discovered Montessori through a friend in Bucharest whose wife had opened a Montessori kindergarten (for ages 3-6 years) It seemed to him that supporting authentic Montessori could be more helpful to his country (and family) than politics.
Some of the homes in this area are lovely old traditional buildings, but many others are very basic, and the families living in them (some of them Roma/gypsies who migrated from India) have neither electricity nor water.
Lenuta came from the Potângeni school to attend the AMI Montessori event in Iasi, and I asked if I could visit her school. The first day of the event was a celebration of 10 years of the school existence, and the second day was workshops for parents and teachers for the age 0-3, 3-6, 6-12, and 12-18 stages of human development and education. It was wonderful to be there with my ‘old’ Montessori friends from the UK/The Philippines (Lori Woellhof – a facebook friend who I just now met in person), USA (Judi Orion), Netherlands (Lynne Lawrence), Romania (Catalina and Simona) and Sweden (Jenny Hogland)
Above is the performance that opened the weekend. The three Ivan girls (triplets) played guitar, keyboard, and sang. Their mother sang the first lines of the song, and they convinced their dad, who has absolutely no experience in playing a musical instrument, to learn a few chords on a base guitar and join them – he did it!
The tradition for this age in Romania, and many other places, is to spend most of the morning sitting still in chairs, the places assigned by the teacher, listen to the teacher speak/teach, or perhaps being given a picture to color in, or other activity scheduled and assigned. Above is a picture. But this kind of teaching has nothing to do with authentic Montessori practice. Sometimes one sees assigned/scheduled group lessons in Montessori above age 7, but just as in the primary (called kindergarten in Romania) this is NOT authentic Montessori practice, it has come about in my opinion because of lack of trust in the creative potential of the human being, or sometimes by government requirements because it is the transitional way, and thought (mistakenly) that this is the best way to teach. When I am consulting, I often take pictures of the bored faces of children in a group lesson to help the teacher understand. Here is an earlier blog post on this subject CLICK: “Circle time” is not authentic Montessori practice
Planting seeds is true Montessori practical life work. These kinds of activities, that children have seen in their homes, are often the first to lead to the experience of deep concentration and the resulting kindness toward others.
There was no money for real Montessori materials, and teacher training, but there is real Montessori here. Some examples: The children chose where to sit; they move carefully and care for each other; they return the toys to the correct place when finished to be ready for use by a friend; they concentrate on their work; when they want a person’s attention they wait patiently rather than interrupting; they are interested in learning the names of items because they are actually handling them and this leads to an interest in books and reading. And there will be more as the teacher and the Montessori School of Iasi continue to communicate.
How to help authentic Montessori spread in a new place
It is not the materials. In my work around the world I have seen many classrooms filled with official Montessori materials but with not a trace of real Montessori practice. And I have seen places like this poor country school where, without materials and full training, where real Montessori is beginning to blossom
I have seen AMI diploma holders with no classroom experience return to their country and try to teach others “how to do it.” I understand this situation because leaving home to earn an AMI diploma is expensive and time consuming, but in the end it is worth it because the only way I have seen success in spreading real, authentic Montessori practice is observing a class that is led by a fully-trained teacher. It is seeing the real thing that will inspire parents, college professors, government officials, etc., to take this kind of education, as preparation for an uncertain future, seriously. That is the situation here in Romania because there are real, authentic Montessori classes for children and young adults from age one to eighteen.
I am honored to find that having, so far, six of my own books translated into the Romanian language is helping to spread an understanding of Montessori.
Here is a picture of the teacher and Catalina observing the class with confidence, peace, and hope for the future. And another of the teacher of me as we met after the observation and discussed children, education, progress, Montessori, life, joy. The kindness, happiness, joy are clearly evident on the faces of the children and the teacher. I am so glad that my books translated into Romanian can help this country in so many ways, and it was an honor to visit this school and see how authentic Montessori can reach even the poorest children and their families.
BOOKS: for descriptions of the collection of fifteen books in English CLICK: English
BOOKS: for information on ordering these books in Romanian CLICK: Romanian
BOOKS: to order online in the USA CLICK: order in English
More blog posts from my time in Romania over the last eight yers: CLICK: Romania posts
For more information on Montessori in Romania contact the Montessori School of Iasi. CLICK: school
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Blessings,
Susan
Home page, CLICK: Susan