Margarete Aurin Prize

The Margarete Aurin Prize, combined with an endowment of €2,500.00, was created in 1990 to honor the pioneering work of the co-founder of Montessori special education, Ms. Margarete Aurin – a direct student of Maria Montessori – for Montessori special education. This honors personalities who have further developed Montessori curative education in helping children with multiple and various disabilities.

Previous winners of the Margarete Aurin Prize:

1999: Ms. Brigitte Schumann, Munich:

As Margarete Aurin’s first student, Ms. Brigitte Schumann used basic elements of Montessori pedagogy as Montessori remedial education in individual therapy for children with multiple and various disabilities right from the start. She used the sensory-physiological elements originally from Edouard Séguin in an extraordinary way in the activities of practical life, in the so-called sensory material and the didactic material in helping blind and severely visually impaired children. She creatively and systematically adapted the existing Montessori material for the affected children so that it can be used internationally for blind and visually impaired children.

2000: Ms. Vijaya Varadarajan, Bangalore / India

Ms. Varadarajan from Bangalore has been intensively involved with Montessori education in India for years. Her special commitment to disabled children led her to Munich, where she attended the international course for Montessori special education in 1981. With this knowledge, she went back to India to make the possibilities of Montessori special education available to children with multiple and various disabilities – for the first time in the entire country.

Ms. Varadarajan has continued to develop Montessori curative education in India with great commitment and has written down her first experiences in the book ‘MONTESSSORI MEDICAL PEDAGOGY’. She has not only helped many children in this way in Bangalore, but has also passed on the experiences she has gained with children and small children in courses.

Their unique commitment will be incorporated into the new program of multisensory developmental therapy for infants and toddlers, into which their experiences will be incorporated.

2007: Ms. Tomele, Liepaya/Latvia

Ms. Gundega Tomele has worked for years as a special education teacher in the orphanage in the Latvian city of Libau with a special commitment to the development of multiply and variously disabled children and orphans. She particularly focused on language development within the framework of Montessori curative education and passed on her experiences at numerous international conferences.

2009: Ms. Zabiegaj, Krakow/Poland

Ms. Mgr Elzbieta Zabiegaj has been the founder and director of the Montessori kindergarten in the Krakow Children’s Center for 15 years with a special commitment to the development of children with multiple and various disabilities. She has particularly focused on inclusion in the context of Montessori curative education and passed on her experiences in Montessori training courses both in Krakow and at numerous international conferences .