Board Members
Sandra Dinny Rebild
Isabelle Valentine
Marianne Rasmussen
Helle Halsboe-Larsen
Lisa Rasmussen
History
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
Montessori International Preschool (Valby)
Søndermarksvej 13 2500 Valby
Montessori International Preschool Frederiksberg
Maglekildevej 8 1853 Frederiksberg C