The arrival of Anna Maccheroni and the opening of the Mancomunitat School

especially in Barcelona, but also in Majorca, where Father Casulleras was. The booklet4 produced by the Barcelona Council in 1933 about the Montessori method and state-run schools reports that in the autumn of 1915 the method had been introduced in thirteen Catalan schools, although at that time there were also numerous trials of other educational methods taking place, such as those of Decroli, Froebel and others.

At the beginning of 1914, Maria Montessori was already in written contact5 with the Council of Educational Investigation and was aware of the interest of the Catalan government in her method. Leonor Serrano explains that on her return from Rome she received a letter from Maria Montessori, saying “I would like Spain to be one of the major centres of the movement in Europe; the lively intelligence, willing spirit and deep faith which you displayed here have been a revelation to me. No other people can have the virtues necessary to make this idea triumph with kindness and love. I hope that none of your efforts are ever in vain.”6

In January 1914, Prat de la Riba, seeing how good the results of this method were, proposed its introduction in all charitable schools, and it was thought that more trials could take place with older children up to the age of 10. This was a difficult task and they did not have adequate training, so they needed help. In

4 Ajuntament de Barcelona (1933). L'escola pública de Barcelona i el mètode Montessori. Barcelona: Barcelona City Council 5 Letter from Maria Montessori to the council offering a substantial discount to the students who came from Barcelona 6 Serrano, Leonor (1915). La pedagogía Montessori. Estudio informativo y crítico presentado al Ministerio de Instrucción Pública y al Ayuntamiento de Barcelona. Madrid 11

Milan, since 1911 they had experimented with children up to 10 years old, and other European schools were also trying out these new materials with more advanced children. The Council for Education therefore proposed to Maria Montessori that someone should go and begin the application of the method with older children. The doctor’s reply was positive and she asked Anna Maccheroni to spend four months introducing it in the orphanage in a class at elementary level, with boys and girls who were already prepared for it.

In January 1915, Maccheroni sent a letter to the Council saying that she would arrive at the end of the month, and she asked that Leonor Serrano, who she already knew from the course in Rome, should go and meet her. She arrived by ship from Geneve, and was greeted with honours almost suited to an ambassador, both at private and official levels. During the first few days she made various visits, one of which was to Antoni Gaudí in his studio at the Sagrada Familia, where a Montessori school was established. She identified straight away with the city and its culture and by September of that year, 1915, she could already read and write perfect Catalan. At a later date Anna Maccheroni explained what a good impression Barcelona had made on her.

The first thing she did was go and visit the place which would later be her classroom at the children’s home. Maccheroni describes the visit in great detail, emphasizing the architectural beauty of the building and describing how moved she was by those children who had grown up without the warmth of their parents. She remembers ‘the corridors, the lovely building, the shiny floors and all the children with their white uniforms, but expressionless and quiet, almost lifeless.’ She was much affected on thinking that they all only had one mother figure and that the nun had to be permanently attentive so that chaos did not reign. She was angry and upset at the situation of those children and their mothers.

In light of the situation, she said that a first trial of the method could not be carried out with this type of children, because they had to be children who had lived with their parents. As a result, the Council decided to organize the school themselves. On 14th February 1915, establishing a new school was not contemplated, but based on Anna Maccheroni’s proposal, Eladi Homs put it into practice. Eladi Homs had in fact been dedicating a large portion of his work to this project for some time, and he was assisted by Alexandre Galí, a renowned educationalist and member of the Council. For the new school they needed to choose middle-class, respectable children, and this would serve as the base for future, larger-scale educational studies.

The new school opened on 1st March 1915 in a rather improvised fashion, in small rented premises at 23 Principal, Carrer Universitat. The director was Anna Maccheroni, her deputies were Josefa Roig de Pujol and Maria Villuendas. They counted on the assistance of Frederic Clascar and Higini Anglès for religion, Pompeu Fabra for development of language, Francesc Galí for artistic education, Joan Gibert for music and Miquel Carbó for hygiene. The idea was that the school should benefit from the presence of specialists in different disciplines who would contribute to the success of the trial.

The first day began in the classroom which would in the future be the elementary class with only five children between five and seven years old, who had never had any contact with the Montessori method. Maccheroni describes the day as very boring: the children picked up cylinders and other material but had no concept of choice. After a few days more children arrived and the class for the youngest children was opened. In April 1915 there were two classes: one for the smallest children with Josefa Roig, and another for the older ones with Maria Villuendas. At this time they began to incorporate new furniture and materials. Much of the

material was brought from Italy and various businesses in Barcelona were contracted to construct it. Anna Maccheroni wanted Homs to realize the

importance of beauty and order, and the use of art, flowers and decorative objects gave the classroom a homely atmosphere.

From the outset, religion was a topic which they wanted to prioritize in the Montessori school. Father Higini Anglès7 was put in charge of religious education, trying to follow Maria Montessori’s way of working. He was quite convinced that this system was compatible with the traditional teaching of the Christian catechism. The result of this work in religion which was carried out in the first Montessori schools was that the Abbot of the emblematic monastery of Montserrat invited members of the project to his liturgical congress from 3rd to 10th July 1915, where Anna Maccheroni gave a conference. From here on, many religious schools applied the Montessori method.

When the school year finished in July 1915, there were 34 children in the school. This first experiment went very well and it was necessary to carry on with the adaptation of the boys and girls, extending Anna Maccheroni’s stay in Barcelona indefinitely.

In that July of 1915, it was already known that Maria Montessori would soon go to Barcelona to head an international course, and it would be necessary to have the school in an adequate state to serve as a showcase classroom for students. In September 1915 they found premises at Carrer Diputació 61, and although they were bigger and better, they would soon also prove to be too small, obliging them to move again after a year. In March 1916, the school had a long waiting list and continued

7 Higini was a musicologist who later, in 1947, he would go to the Vatican in Rome, to direct the Pontifical Institute of sacred music