My name is Anthi Stratis Koulis and I am a graduate of the Department of Philosophy, Psychology and Pedagogy of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens. Already from the first years of my studies, I was particularly concerned about how I would be able to adequately support each student, to respond to the developmental needs of the children as well as the individual differences that are presented in a group of children. So I started to educate myself by attending seminars on inclusive education, psychoanalysis and systemic psychology organized by my university. At the same time I worked mainly supporting primary school students who had learning difficulties.
Then I started my postgraduate studies on inclusive education at the University of Bristol, England, from where I graduated in 2011. The subject of my thesis was how the school cooperates with the specialists when a child is diagnosed with ADHD. Then I continued my studies in London at the Institute of Education, which belongs to UCL. My second master’s degree was in museum education as I had seen first hand the importance of experiential learning and connecting the child to the arts and the world. In this master’s degree, I came into contact with the Montessori approach for the first time, which seemed to me to really cover me as a theoretical approach.
I stayed seven years in England, worked at the Museum of London, in an English primary school and also in pre-primary school at the Greek parochial school of Agia Sophia. I also gave birth to my son in England. After so many years of research and searching I had come to the conclusion that for my child I would choose the Montessori approach to highlight his potential and stand by him as a parent. So I joined a Montessori group for parents, attended seminars and a new world opened up for me. A world where the child is treated holistically with respect, dignity and love.
When we returned to Greece I had already decided that I wanted to train to become a Montessori teacher for children aged 3-6 because I had seen in theory but also in practice that this age is decisive for development, it is the age when we can work to bring out the personality and skills that each child hides inside. So I was trained by AMI (Association Montessori International) as a Montessori Teacher for the Children’s Home (2.5-6 years old). I completed the training in 2021.
First I worked at the Montessori school Green School and then I started working with the Montessori Way of Life. I am grateful that I can be in this role because every day I practice and try through the role of assistant to connect each child with the classroom environment. I also see in practice these superior beings, the children unfolding their potential within this first social group that we as educators are called to help them join, their first school.