The Dutch Society established a Leermiddelenhuis (didactic apparatus centre), which by 1922 was fully operational. With Montessori education increasingly finding groups of parents interested to have their children enjoy this new type of education, it was desirable to pool resources and knowledge, and coordinate the necessary lobbying with educational authorities: these considerations led, in 1917, to the foundation of an official Dutch Montessori Society, to become a resource for Dutch Montessorians and to liaise with Maria Montessori.Īs ever, the demand for and availability of good quality materials made in accordance with the scientific specifications required by Maria Montessori was a prime concern: a special materials committee took it upon itself to have the Montessori materials made in country, as it was not always easy to import the materials from England or Italy. J.J. Werker in The Hague, who had set up a small Montessori ‘Casa dei Bambini’. Soon afterwards, few other schools opened their doors in other parts of the country.

In 1914, the first group of Dutch children gathered in the home of Mrs. Interest in this new form of education spread to the Netherlands, and a few Dutch early childhood educators set off for Rome to study at the international teacher training courses that Maria Montessori started in 1913.

After the establishment of the first Casa dei Bambini in Rome, 1907, the news of the miracle children was quick to spread to Italy’s neighbouring countries, and the rest of world.

Maria montessori