Montessori Europe fills an important need in our community. The board members are responsible for overseeing the
organization’s operations, while maintaining commitment to its mission.
 | Barbara Isaacs – United Kingdom / Czech Republic
President |
Barbara Isaacs’ career of training Montessori teachers spans 35 years. During this time, she has supported adults in obtaining a wide range of Montessori qualifications from Degree level to assistants and parents, working both face to face and at a distance and in later years using online resources to celebrate Montessori’s vision of children – their agency and capacity to change the world. Barbara’s aspirations have always been to make Montessori education and teacher training accessible and to this end she has worked with state schools and ensured that the Montessori Early Years Educator diploma achieved a national recognition in England. Her many articles and two published books aim to promote Montessori pedagogy to the wider early years community. Recognising that teaching is about on going learning Barbara dedicated recent years to working with teachers by promoting reflections in our daily work and gently but critically challenging Montessori practice through Montessori Musings. In her role as President of Montessori Europe Barbara continues to challenge practice and reflect on the relevance of Montessori’s pedagogy in the 21st Century. She is committed to Montessori’s vision of cosmic education which raises awareness of the importance of nature in our lives and promotes care for each other and the community and stewardship of our planet, ensuring peace education is embedded in our understanding of the world of today and above all providing children and young people with tools to lead the world of tomorrow. |
 | Judith Cunningham – Italy
Vice President |
Judith Cunningham is the Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Montessori Model UN. Judith founded MMUN to help students find their voices, take action and build peace as a way of honouring Maria Montessori’s legacy and implementing her dream of world peace. Judith holds an AMI Elementary Diploma, a Master’s Degree in Education and postgraduate work in Alternative Dispute Resolution. She is a board member of Montessori Model UN and MUN Impact. Prior experience includes 20 years as a Montessori teacher for elementary and middle school and 10 years as a Montessori Head of School in the US and Canada. |
 | Wendelien Bellinger – the Netherlands / United Kingdom
Treasurer |
| Having retrained as a Montessori Early Years Teacher, Wendelien Bellinger worked as Deputy Head and Special Educational Needs Coordinator at an early years setting for several years, before moving to Montessori Centre International as a Teacher Trainer. Since retiring from MCI, she co-founded Montessori Musings UK, an online community which provides a space for Montessorians to come together to reflect on and challenge their practice as well as being part of Montessori Everywhere team. Before retraining to become a Montessorian, and with a BA in business and marketing, she worked at the International Bar Association, a global legal organisation, bringing together over 80,000 members at conferences and seminars on a global, regional as well as interest-based level. |
 | Roelant Wijngaards – The Netherlands |
| For the past seventeen years, Roelant Wijngaards has worked as an English teacher, team leader and Agora Coach at Montessori College Nijmegen. As webmaster and Public Relations coordinator he has experience in managing the website, developing content for social media and coordinating with activities to promote the school. He is co-founder of Global Association of Montessori Education and Sport, which has created the Global Montessori Games and Sustainable Development Games, international events that bring Montessori schools, from all over the world, together with the aim of creating peace and connecting people through sports, education and shared culture. |
 | Ellen Zeiss – Germany |
| For almost 20 years Ellen has been working with her heart and soul as a Montessori teacher. Her career is marked by numerous training and further education: among other things, she has acquired 2 national diplomas (IfgL and ÖMG) and an international diploma (AMI) for the second stage of developmental. For the 3rd stage of development, she continued her education with MMUN and as an Independent Facilitator for the World Peace Game.One of Ellen’s main interest is adult education, among other things as a lecturer for the German Montessori Society and as an independent school consultant.It is of utmost important to her that the Montessori principles of freedom and responsibility are rediscovered into the Montessori experience and positively influence the work of Montessori colleges in general. |
 | Carola Lang-Howard – Cyprus / Sweden |
| The nomadic feet of Carola have allowed her to work with Montessori Education in different countries and cultures for the past 27 years. She is from Sweden but has spent several years in the Middle East and Europe. While living in London she worked with Montessori Centre International as a Teacher Trainer guiding adult students for several years. Her current permanent residence is Cyprus where she has 2 schools for children 2 to 6 years old. Carola holds the St. Nicholas Diploma 0-6 years, a Bachelor Hons. Degree in Early Childhood Studies, as well as a Master’s degree in the Early Years. |
 | Jaroslaw Jendza – Poland |
| Dr. Jarosław Jendza is an assistant professor in the Institute of Education at the Social Sciences Faculty (Gdańsk University, Poland). He specialises in alternative, engaging and non-traditional approaches to education, Montessori in particular. Awarded the Distinguished PhD Dissertation Award dr. Jendza has published a number of scientific articles on Montessori pedagogy focusing mostly on the issue of the teachers’ education. He holds a Masters degree in early education and teaching English as a foreign language. In his professional career he has worked as a kindergarten and primary school teacher as well as a head-master of a Montessori school. He has been involved in various Montessori teacher training programmes and supported Montessori educational institutions as an external consultant. Dr Jendza believes that education can create a better world for all the human beings, especially the education that promotes self-confidence, self-reliance and active participation based on mutual respect and peaceful relations. |
 | Malin Ringblad – Sweden |
Malin has worked and lived in the Montessori community for about twenty years, both as a teacher, parent and head of school. Her commitment lies in the pedagogy and in international work. Malin has worked in a lot of international Montessori projects, student exchanges, MMUN, teacher trainings/workshops, and as a speaker at different conferences around the world. Bringing Montessorians together to strengthen the pedagogy across borders lies close to her heart.
Malin is on the board of the Swedish Montessori Society, and tries in all different forums to strengthen the Montessori pedagogy which she believes is the key to the future and benefit of all children. |
