Ukraine forms Montessori Association and opens first teacher training center (01/26/97)

Ukraine forms Montessori Association and opens first teacher training center

by Ginny Cusack

PRINCETON, N.J. - Desiring to employ the model of the American Montessori Society and the American Montessori movement in Ukraine, Ukrainian educators in October 1993 began a project with the Princeton Montessori School and the Princeton Center for Teacher Education.

Borys Zhebrovskyi, chairman of the Main Board for Public Education in Kyiv, Vera Guroynova, the superintendent of the Darnytsia Public School District, where the Montessori School is located, and Tatiana Mikhalchuk, the principal of Montessori School 3-7 in Kyiv, met with Marsha Stencel, director of the Princeton Montessori School, the late Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambusch, and this writer to develop a plan for Ukrainians to assimilate Montessori education into their culture.

Just three years later, on November 15, 1996, these same Ukrainian educators established the Ukrainian Montessori Association and the first Ukrainian Montessori Teacher Training Center in Kyiv. Present for the formal opening of the center were Ms. Stencel and this writer, along with approximately 30 educators from various parts of Ukraine who had been attending seminars about the Montessori philosophy in Kyiv.

Unable to attend the ceremony was Anita Ream, an American friend of Mrs. Mikhalchuk who was the liaison between these Ukrainian educators and Montessori educators in America. She and a group of interested people had formed the Ukrainian American Montessori Foundation (UAMF), a non-profit foundation incorporated in the state of New Jersey to help finance the project.

The reason Ukraine has chosen the Montessori philosophy of education is that it focuses on early childhood education and elementary education. One of its main goals is to foster high academic standards in the very young child through independence, self-motivation, and a sense of responsibility.

There are thousands of Montessori schools in the United States. Montessori began to flourish here when a young woman, Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambusch, went to London to take teacher training. She and a few other educators established the first Montessori school in the United States in the 1950s. The American Montessori Society was established, and then the first teacher training center was opened. From this beginning, Montessori now has over 100 teacher training centers and thousands of schools in this country.

The late Dr. Rambusch, who was working in Princeton during the inception of the Ukrainian project, believed that the approach to implementing Montessori education in the United States could be used in Ukraine. Before her death in October 1994, Dr. Rambusch had met with Mr. Zhebrovsky, Ms. Guroynova and Ms. Mikhalchuk to develop the framework upon which the partnership between Ukraine and Princeton is based.

The goal of the project was the establishment of a model Montessori school and a teacher training center in Kyiv. This was accomplished by two Ukrainian teachers attending the teacher training course in Princeton each summer until all teachers working in the model school were certified. When that was done, the model school would become the local training site for Ukrainian teachers. Then, from this group of trained teachers and with the assistance of American trainers, leaders would emerge to become trainers in Ukraine. This is the third year of the project, and it is right on schedule.

In her work with the Ukrainian educators, Dr. Rambusch outlined three stages that would be necessary in the process of making Montessori their own, that is, Ukrainian Montessori. She designated these stages as the transportation stage, the translation stage and the transformation stage.

The transportation stage is the actual "carrying over" of the principles and practices of Montessori education from America to Ukraine. This is usually done by an individual or by a small group of people.

Montessori educators from Holland came to Ukraine to teach early childhood teachers the basics of Montessori. The Princeton Center for Teacher Education sponsored two teachers each summer for the past three summers to come to the AMS Early Childhood Teacher Training Course. These teachers went back to Ukraine to do their internship.

Joyce Tatsch, Beverly Peutz, Ms. Stencel and this writer made visits to Kyiv to visit the interns, talk to parents and hold teacher seminars on the principles and practices of Montessori education. Mr. Zhebrovsky, Ms. Guroynova and Ms. Mikhalchuk visited America twice to observe Montessori schools, teachers and administrators, and other forms of American education.

The second stage, the translation stage, is when Ukrainians orient Montessori philosophy in a way that makes sense to their people, given their pre-existing child-rearing and educational practices. Early childhood education in America is different than in Ukraine. In the United States formal education begins at age 5 with kindergarten. Pre-school education for children under 5 is largely a private (non-public) phenomenon. In Ukraine the majority of young children attend kindergartens, the name for their preschools. Public funds support pre-school education.

It was Mr. Zhebrovski's decision to designate a kindergarten as the Montessori model school. He found a willing superintendent, Ms. Guroynova, who promoted the Montessori school and saw that it received what it needed to develop and grow. Thus, the first Montessori school was established, and Ms. Mikhalchuk was appointed its first principal. The school was named Montessori School 3-7.

The third stage, the transformation stage, is a reciprocal phenomenon involving the Montessori principles and practices and the Ukrainian culture. This is the stage that will take the longest and require the most patience.

This stage has to do with attitudes and beliefs. It is somewhat simple to teach the ideas of Montessori and how to use the beautiful materials. The transformation of the teacher and then the transformation of the philosophy in the culture will take generations. Ultimately, the Montessori philosophy will take on its own Ukrainian character.

In conclusion, it is important to note that this project is funded through donations from the Ukrainian American Montessori Foundation and by the parents of the children in the Ukrainian Montessori School. In addition the Princeton Center for Teacher Education awards scholarships to Ukrainian teachers to cover the cost of training. The nuns at Our Lady of Princeton Convent provide the housing for the teachers in the summer.

The project is in need of more financial assistance. For more information contact the Ukrainian American Montessori Foundation at the Princeton Montessori School, (609) 924-4594; fax, (609) 924-2216.

Ginny Cusack is director of the Princeton Center for Teacher Education, an American Montessori Society Teacher Education Course. She has been working on the Ukrainian American Montessori partnership since 1993.

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