The Beautiful Asilomar Conference Center, (near Carmel California) was the site of The International Montessori Council’s first annual West Coast spring retreat. This conference marked the beginning of the joining of forces of Montessori and The Partnership Way education model, forming the new Center for Partnership Education.

Partnership education is based on the brilliant work of Riane Eisler (author of The Chalice & The Blade; The Partnership Way, Tomorrow’s Children and others). Ashley Montague said of The Chalice and The Blade: “This is the most important book written since Darwin’s Origin of The Species”

Partnership is a model for society that stresses environmental sustainability, nonviolence, multiculturalism and gender-fairness. Eisler’s theory is that the ‘Dominator’ model, which emphasizes control, authoritarianism, violence and gender discrimination, has infused our culture (whether in families, schools or nations) with a winner/loser mentality that has kept us in the Dark Ages. Eisler (and many others) believe that ideas of struggle, conquest and destruction can successfully be supplanted by those of cooperation, mutual aid and respect for creation. Montessori believed this, too. If we join forces with Partnership Education and with each other, we can have a much greater influence.
The world needs us NOW. We cannot remain in our insular Montessori programs, being self-congratulatory about our beautiful schools and ignoring what is happening in the larger global community. If we can unite and stop nit-picking about our differences but rather celebrate our similarities, we can have a huge impact. We need to reach out to each other and the world.

Partnership education allows us to remain true to our Montessori legacy, but also to focus on partnerships with the larger community. Maria Montessori strongly believed that the future of the world depended on our children being infused with the exact same kind of values that The Partnership Way puts forth. Montessori’s model also empowers children.

By joining with Eisler, we can have a stronger presence in the global community.

We spent hours with amazing people like Riane Eisler, David Loye, Michael Dorer, Bob Anderson, and Sura Hart, and took first steps toward forming the new Center for Partnership Education.

The conference attracted an international attendance. (Pictured above, left to right) Malcolm Roberts (Brisbane, Australia), Michael Dorer (St. Paul, Minnesotta, USA), Ana Pickering (Nelson, New Zealand), Jonathon Wolff (Encinitas, California, USA), and MaryAnn Woosley (Mannassas, Virginia, USA)

To support this new movement towards partnership, we need to truly evaluate each individual school’s culture and make the necessary changes to insure that they represent an honest egalitarian partnership between children, teachers and parents. Parents need to be welcomed and treated as valuable members of the community. Schools need to eliminate hierarchical structures, where power is given to the Head of School (perhaps the Board), and to a lesser degree, Lead Teachers. However, assistant teachers, interns and other support staff are often treated as second class citizens. And parents are often told to ‘stay away’ and just ‘trust’ that the school is fulfilling its educational promises. This needs to change. Shared leadership and power are key in the partnership model.

We must create a culture and curriculum of caring and egalitarianism. Eisler calls this “Caring for Life” and weaves it through all her curriculum areas from preschool through graduate school. Children must integrate into their very souls the belief that empathy and caring are the most important ways to relate to others. Montessori speaks of this in Education for a New World, arguing that any form of violence does irreparable harm to the child. Montessori would have agreed with the theory that living in a ‘dominator’ society does great harm to ourselves and to our children.

Kristina Thuvesson and Anna-Carin Koserius of the Stockholma Montessoriskola in Stockholm, Sweden

Beginning next Fall, there will be two Montessori schools experimenting in purposefully merging Montessori and Partnership education. Brookview School is in Benton Harbor, Michigan and Oneness Family School is in Chevy Chase, Maryland. They will be using many curriculum suggestions in Eisler’s Tomorrow’s Children, which can provide wonderful extensions for our Montessori curriculum.

Our society is becoming more & more fractured, competitive and partisan. The world needs Montessori-based egalitarian, collegial, respectful schools more than ever. Partnership education provides an opportunity for Montessorians to grow and to reach out to others. It deepens and enhances the Montessori philosophy. Joining with the people from Partnership education has great potential to broaden Montessori’s influence in the world.

Want to know more? Contact Tim Seldin at the International Montessori Council, read Riane Eisler’s books, or check out: www.partnershipway.org or www.montessori.org.ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ

Jennifer Lyons and Andrew Kutt led the Friday night sing along.

Wildlife was in abundance and at home with visitors.

Paul Epstein led the Saturday night Sedar to celebrate the Passover holiday.

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Asilomar

Partnership Education: New Opportunities for Montessori