About the Speakers....

Sally Goddard Blythe

Opening speaker Friday 10th October 1600-1700

'Observing and Identifying Physical Readiness for Learning'

Sally will speak on the afternoon of Friday 9 th October. She will speak on “Observing and Identifying Physical Readiness for Learning”, and examine the significance of primitive and postural reflexes as reflections of the maturity of the central nervous system. This at first may seem very theoretical, but Sally will go on to show what Montessori teachers can do to help children with these problems, and how activities in the classroom can be modified to provide further help and aid the child’s development.

Sally is Director of The Institute for Neuro-Physical Psychology (INPP) and author of several books such as “The Well Balanced Child”, “A Teacher’s Window into the Child’s Mind” and her latest book “What Babies and Children Really Need”(Hawthorn Press) is reviewed in the latest edition of Montessori International.

Professor Christine Pascal

Saturday 11th October 11.15-12.15

'Capturing the Unique Child: Principles of Observation and Assessment of Learning'

Christine will be giving the third annual Oxford Montessori lecture as part of the Annual Montessori Schools Association Meeting (this year to be held in Oxford rather than London) and Montessori Europe Congress on Saturday morning. In her presentation Christine will talk about the importance of the Unique Child in the new Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum, and what this means for practice, and will move on to talk about how we might use observation to capture and assess children’s competencies in their learning.

Christine is Director of the Centre for Research in Early Childhood based in Birmingham and was leader of the national research project “Effective Early Learning." She is Ministerial adviser to the UK Government and Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Education, and helped to found the European Early Childhood Research Journal, for which she is a trustee and co-ordinating editor. In 2001 she was awarded the OBE for her services to early years’ education.

Professor Catherine McTamaney

Saturday 11th October 14.00-15.00

'A lens Inward- Self Observation and the Montessori Teacher'

Catherine is the author of the well known book “The Tao of Montessori”, and will be coming from Tennessee. Catherine is Professor of Montessori School Leadership, Vanderbilt University, co-director of The Christopher Montessori Institute, and was a practising Montessori teacher for several years.

Lynne Lawrence

Saturday 11th October 15.30-16.30

'Observation : the Cornerstone of Montessori Education'

Lynne is director of training and school at the Maria Montessori Institute in London,and General Secretary of AMI. She is well known as an engaging speaker in the Montessori world.

Lynne is also the author of “Montessori Read and Write” and many other articles on Montessori. Lynne’s video/DVD “Montessori in Action” has been invaluable for parents, trainers and students as an observation of, and insight into, a true Montessori classroom

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Sue Palmer

Sunday 12th October 09:30-10:30

'What are our Children Watching? The Problem of Growing up in an Electronic Global Village'

Sue, who is a writer, broadcaster and consultant on the education of children, will be the final speaker at the congress. The title of her talk will be “What are our Children Watching? The problem of growing up in an electronic global village” .

Sue’s concerns about our children’s lifestyles led her to write “Toxic Childhood”: how modern life is damaging our children…and what we can do about it”, followed by a practical handbook for parents “Detoxing Childhood” in 2007. Her forthcoming book “21 st Century Boys” looks in depth at the effects of modern life on boys, from birth to the teenage years.