Making Training More Available and Accessible
This article appeared in our last newsletter of 2022.
There is current discourse in the media, both local and international, on the lack of sufficient, qualified teachers. The consequence of teacher shortages not only impacts staff, it has broader impacts on the children in affected classrooms, their families, as well as the rest of society.
In Australia, Government ministers were calling on more people to become teachers, as reported by the ABC last August.
In our smaller Montessori education sector, the availability of qualified Montessori educators has been a global challenge for many years, and it impacts the ability of our Montessori school sector to grow and benefit more children – this is one of the key reasons SMTC was established and has been working hard over the last four years to make more AMI courses available and accessible in Australia and our region.
We aim to expand our AMI course offerings, and the reach these courses have, to continue to be part of the solution to the shortage of trained Montessori educators.
Here are some of the ways we are making our courses more available and accessible:
MORE AMI DIPLOMA COURSES
Did you know that SMTC currently has six AMI Diplomas in progress in the 0-18 age-levels? This is the most AMI training to have ever been run at one time in Australia.
MORE LOCATIONS
In-person blocks on our AMI Diploma courses are now being held in four Australian cities being Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in multiple age-levels.
ONLINE COURSES
We also now offer fully online courses. This year, our AMI Montessori Orientation Certificates and Administrators Certificate have all been fully online, making the courses available to a wider geographic audience. It has been heartening to see registrations for our courses from all over our region and also some from other parts of the world.
Further, our AMI Montessori Diplomas are being offered in blended mode; with a mix of online and in-person blocks for each cohort. A great deal of thought and work has been put into ensuring the online and in-person blocks of each of our courses deliver quality content suited to the medium.
TIMING
Our class schedules have been created to coincide with school holidays and out-of-school hours as much as we feasibly can.
SCHOLARSHIPS
In 2021, we launched our first Scholarship Fund, known as the Victorian Teachers Bursary Fund, with the aim to make AMI Diploma Training more accessible to current and future Victorian primary teachers by awarding bursaries for SMTC’s AMI Diplomas for the 3–6 and 6–12 age-levels.
SMTC has plans to launch further scholarship and bursary funds in the future to mitigate the financial challenge experienced by some in accessing SMTC AMI Diploma courses.
ADDITIONAL CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Montessori educators are always learning.
Our AMI trainers are available for professional development and consultations to continue to support schools and educators after their courses complete. This includes professional development training sessions as well as custom consultations.
Please contact us at [email protected] to find a solution for your school or situation.
We are fast approaching the end of another year and we are tirelessly working on providing more courses for 2023. The continued support of the community has been invaluable and to continue improving how we serve the needs of the community; we are always happy to receive feedback and suggestions.
Our last AMI Diploma for 2022 is for the 0-3 age-level commencing on 5 December. Find out more.