Our objective is to spread interest to all about Montessori pedagogy and philosophy for all age groups

Board Members

The Mission of the board members is to work towards the establishment or expansion of Montessori schools in Denmark, using Montessori pedagogy, philosophy and AMI Montessori trained staff. Please contact us if you would also like to join our mission.

Sandra Dinny Rebild

Since 2012
Dinny has been a Danish 3-6 Montessori teacher since 1969. She completed her AMI 3-6 Montessori Teacher degree in 1988. She was the Directress of Jaegersborg Montessori Preschool from 1972 to 1990 and left to start The Little Montessori School in Lyngby in 1990. Dinny has worked with children at risk and their parents at the Red Cross asylum Center Kongelunden from 2022 to 2007. She is now involved with the Danish Montessori Society and is an advocate of the Montessori philosophy in Denmark.

Isabelle Valentine

Since 2012
Isabelle is the Director of Montessori International Preschool, located in Valby and in Frederiksberg. She is also the founder of both preschools. She moved to Copenhagen in May 2008 with her family. She is devoted to helping children develop an open-mind and an acceptance of other cultures and customs.

Marianne Rasmussen

Since 2012
Marianne and her husband run a small private kindergarten for 25 children aged 2-6 years. Her “Montessori career” began in 1978 where she worked for 2 years as an assistant in the same kindergarten that she currently owns. The kindergarten opened in 1971 and she acquired it in 1992.

Helle Halsboe-Larsen

Since 2022
Helle holds a BA in Psychomotor Therapy. She has worked with children as a preschool teacher and has a background in children’s theater.

Lisa Rasmussen

Since 2012
Lisa Rasmussen was the Montessori Directress at The Little Montessori School in Lyngby from 1997 to 2016. She received her diploma as a Montessori Directress in 1995.

Are you interested in becoming a member of the Danish Montessori Society?
Annual membership fee is 150 DKK which can be paid using netbank.
Bank Details: Nordea Reg nr. 2252 + Konto nr. 0252 923 691

History

MONTESSORI'S WAY TO DENMARK

When: Dr. Montessori opened the first Casa dei Bambini on the 6th of January 1907. The first article in Denmark about Montessori was written 1911 four years after by Marie Helm who we believe was one of two cousins running the oldest school in Korsør, a small but important town in the south west of Zeeland, important because it was the port to the island of Funnen and Jutland.

Where: By 1950 Montessori had reached it peak and was losing ground but before that it had been spread over the whole of Denmark, schools, colleges, children’s homes and homes for disabled children. In The Secret of Children translated into the Danish by Thora Constantin Hansen in the late 1930s there were advertisements for at least nine Montessori schools for the three to six year olds.
Books and articles: The Danish Montessori Society printed a great deal of articles. Several of Dr. Montessori books were translated and Danish books about the Montessori Method were published. I would like to mention the book by Sigurd Næsgaard from 1924 written about Egelunds School, Egelunds School was a kind of Erdkinder School for children from 3 to 15.
Societies: The first Danish Montessori Society was founded in 1917, ten years after the first Casa was started.

Who: The most important Montessori people in Denmark to begin with were:
Thora Constantin Hansen 1867 – 1954
Johannes Rosback
George Julius Arvin 1880-1962
Sigurd Næsgaard 1883 – 1956
Sofie Rifbjerg 1886 – 1981
And later Ranghild Hoff 1909–1993
Thora Constantin Hansen was the youngest child of nine; her father was a famous Danish painter. She founded the first Danish Montessori Society, Took a Montessori Course in London in 1924 under Dr. Montessori and visited Dr. Montessori in her home. She translated books by Dr. Montessori and gave lectures. She worked all her life for children at risk.
Johannes Rosback: founded Egelundshuset 1943, a home for children at risk properly one of the first Erdkinder schools in the world.
George Julius Arvin: was a School inspector who founded a Montessori school in Frederiksberg together with Thora Constantin Hansen, in 1948 he founded Bernadotteskolen, named after Folke Bernadotte.
Sigurd Næsgaard The brain behind The New Education Fellowship 5th World Congress in Helsingør, Founded the first Danish Montessori Society together with Thora Constantin Hansen, and founds the first Danish Montessori Course in in1928 together with Sofie Rifbjerg and in 1929 writes the first Danish book about psychoanalysis
Sofie Rifbjerg 1886 – 1981. From 1919 to 1920 she attended a Montessori Course in London. In 1925 She was the first woman in Denmark to become Master of Science in Psychology. In 1928 she started a 2-year Montessori Course of which she was the director until 1949.
Ranghild Hoff took a course with Dr. Montessori, maybe in Rome. She had at least three Montessori schools for small children. In 1940? She started Nordisk Montessori Kursus that survived until 1972. Ranghild Hoff helped on the “White Buses” that Folke Bernadotte sent to Germany in the last days of the Second World War to drive prisoners of war back to Scandinavia. Dr. Montessori in Denmark: We know Dr. Montessori was in Denmark twice, once when The New Education Fellowship held its 5th World Congress in Helsingør where the delegates were able to meet in the Knights Hall of the Castle of Kronborg. And Dr. Montessori and her son Mario founded Association Montessori Internationale AMI. The second time we know of was in Copenhagen in 1937 at the Sixth International Montessori Congress, Education and Peace. Did we have any famous Montessori children?
Two children that later became famous in Denmark and went to Montessori schools were Falke Bang and Leif Panduro, Falke Bang went The Montessori school Egelundshuset near Roskilde he is mentioned as knowing all the bird species, writing poetry and drawing beautiful nature drawings at the age of 13, 14, he later became an artist and illustrator. Leif Panduro was a child at risk and was looked after by Thora Constantin Hansen in her “Home School” in Roskilde, which she started in 1922. He later became a writer and playwright.

Montessori Schools In Denmark

Go to Montessori International Preschool (Valby)

Montessori International Preschool (Valby)

Søndermarksvej 13 2500 Valby

Go to Montessori International Preschool Frederiksberg

Montessori International Preschool Frederiksberg

Maglekildevej 8 1853 Frederiksberg C

About Montessori

Events and News

Montessori exhibition at the Dansk Pædagogisk Historisk Forening og Samling - www.paedhist.dk
If you would like to become a member, to get more information about the society, or just more information about Montessori in general, please feel free to send us a message.