Addressing the Teacher Shortage: #ConsiderMontessori

September 29, 2021

Join us on September 29 at 1:00 p.m. EDT for an intentional conversation about our Montessori teacher shortage and let’s hear about effective steps taken by school leaders and Training Centers to grapple with this crisis. 

Location

Zoom

Ready? Well, ready or not, another school year has already begun. As with the start of school years in the past, there are many things to grapple with in order to be prepared. Yet this school year’s readiness is particularly challenged by some complex matters. For one, the continuing and resurgent COVID-19 pandemic is complicating school readiness for many. Specifically, schools are struggling to decide whether classes will resume in-person, on-line, or a combination of both. Still another troubling matter is the shortage of teachers, which is not new but appears to be pronounced this year.

Recently, Frontline Education, a non-profit educational organization, surveyed over 1,200 school leaders and found that “two-thirds of the survey respondents report teacher shortages, a record high” (May 2021). The Montessori movement is not immune from this teacher shortage, and given the pandemic, this crisis might be further exacerbated.

Therefore, AMI/USA has been working diligently with AMI global to understand and address this crisis. To that end, we have recently launched a two-month long soft campaign, called #ConsiderMontessori. With this campaign, we are asking individuals to explore Montessori as a teaching career option; as a holistic developmental educational option for children; and as a way to enhance one’s parenting skills. The overall goals of #ConsiderMontessori are:

  • Increased awareness of Montessori, especially among BIPOC folx;
  • Increased number of applicants to AMI training centers, especially by BIPOC; and,
  • Increased number of AMI Montessori graduates, especially by BIPOC.

Thus far, we have begun promoting #ConsiderMontessori on all of our social media platforms, we have enhanced our Google ad campaigns and we are concentrating our promotions in a few specific geographic areas. To learn more about our efforts, join us on September 29 at 1:00 p.m. EDT for an intentional conversation about our Montessori teacher shortage and let’s hear about effective steps taken by school leaders and Training Centers to grapple with this crisis.