Inspiring example

The Metis Montessori Lyceum (MML/Metis) is a young, ambitious secondary school in Amsterdam East and part of the Montessori School Community of Amsterdam (MSA). Teachers want to do more than just transfer their knowledge work at this school; they want to transfer their enthusiasm to their students. This does not mean that students have to 'like' every subject, but it does mean that they are addressed at their own level and their own interests.

Goals

Ömer Demirözcan, teacher at Metis Montessori Lyceum says: “Diversity and inclusion are at the hart of our values. The vision and mission of our school is Global citizenship education and Montessori education. So, when we hire teachers or staff our questions when they apply for a job, beside personal questions, are about what they think about social topics and diversity.”

The school's vision can be recognized clearly in three activities:

1. The global citizenship weeks: the week against discrimination of skin color, the week against islamophobia, the week against antisemitism, the week for LGBTQIA+ and the week against bullying.
   Our purpose is to make students aware of inequality and discrimination in the society, at the other hand we celebrate that we are a diverse and inclusive school.
2. Erasmus+ exchange projects:
   One project is about diversity and inclusion with a school in Belgium. The other project is about refugees with a school in Athens.
3. Teacher study days
   We have study days for all teachers and our topics are mostly about diversity, inclusion and global citizenship or  inequality in education.

Reflective questions after reading the story

• How are different cultures celebrated in your school?
• What are the possible challenges you face and can you tackle them?
• How to you cooperate with other schools in other cultures?

Links and materials

School web site: https://hetmml.nl/
Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/metismontessori/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?
id=100063664276511