The success of the Children’s House led to the founding of other Montessori schools and teacher-training programs throughout Europe and the United States. In 1934 Montessori fled fascist rule in Italy and settled in Barcelona, Spain. She worked there until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 forced her to move to The Netherlands. There she established an influential teacher-training school at Laren, near Amsterdam. From 1939 to 1947 Montessori lived in India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), founding more schools and training programs before returning to The Netherlands.
Montessori was convinced that universal adoption of her teaching method would be of immense value in bringing about world peace, and she stressed the importance of education as the "armament of peace." A Roman Catholic, she also worked extensively to apply her principles to the teaching of religion. Among her published works are Il metodo della pedagogia scientifica applicato all'educazione infantile nelle case dei bambini (1909; translated as The Montessori Method, 1912); Antropologia pedagogica (1911; Pedagogical Anthropology, 1913); Mente del bambino (1949; The Absorbent Mind, 1949); and Il bambino in famiglia (1956; The Child in the Family, 1970).
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