MST Hosts AMI Leadership Course
MST was proud to host the first Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) Montessori School Leadership course held in Japan. Participants travelled from across the country, including Kyushu and Osaka, for four days of in-person learning alongside the course’s online sessions. The bilingual format brought Japanese and international participants together to learn in both Japanese and English.
Hosting the course builds on last year’s bilingual AMI Elementary Assistants training and strengthens MST’s connections within the Montessori community in Japan and internationally. We have also been working to give more adult learners opportunities to observe Montessori practice in our classrooms. The course created an opportunity for our Adolescent Community, too. As part of their microeconomy work, students provided baked goods, snacks, homemade lemonade and other items for course lunches.
Head of School James Moore took part as both host and a member of the training team, giving presentations in person and online as he continued his path to become an AMI trainer. Two other MST staff members, Dolly Solanki (Cedar Guide) and Melanie Schalock (Learning Support Lead), joined the course as part of their ongoing professional development.
The course was led by Sue Pritzker, former Head of School at Child Peace Montessori School in the US, and Eder Cuevas Iturralde, Executive Director at Montessori México and Head of School at Montessori School of Chihuahua. Cohosting the training was Setsuko Miura, former MST teacher and currently Director of Training at the Montessori Institute of Tokyo. She also served as the interpreter for the course.
Sue has deep personal and professional ties to our faculty. Melanie and Manamaya Peterson (Willow Guide) used to work at Sue’s school in Oregon. And Sue has known Manamaya since she was three years old and when she enrolled at six at Childpeace. As well as being an AMI trainer for this course, Sue is also part of AMI's global school accreditation team.
We hope to host more Montessori training in both Japanese and English, create further learning opportunities for our staff, and continue building on MST’s role as a leading Montessori school in Japan.
James Moore and Wind Edward Kim
