From 14 to 15 May 2026, Sofia hosted a new international meeting of the MARIAN project – Integrating Montessori & Creative Technologies for Enhanced Math Education in Multicultural Schools.
The meeting brought together teachers, trainers and partners from across the consortium, creating a shared space to reflect on the first classroom implementations carried out after the Training of Trainers in Girona.
After working together in Girona, teachers from the partner countries brought selected MARIAN lesson plans into their own classrooms. In Sofia, they came back together to share what happened in practice: how the activities were adapted, how students responded, which materials were produced, and which questions emerged from real classroom experience.
Learning from classroom experience
A central part of the meeting was dedicated to teachers’ presentations and feedback. Participants shared key messages from the implementations, analysed teacher logs and discussed how the lesson plans worked in real classrooms. The programme also included practical sessions on the key aspects of a MARIAN workshop and moments dedicated to improving the Teacher’s Guide.
The experiences shared in Sofia showed how mathematics can become more concrete and engaging when connected to observation, movement, construction, artistic processes, natural structures and creative technologies.
They also highlighted the importance of teachers’ professional knowledge: each classroom implementation brought adaptations, insights and reflections that will help the project materials become stronger and more responsive to different learning contexts.
A shared European process
The meeting confirmed the value of MARIAN as a European community of practice. Teachers from different countries worked together with project partners, researchers and Montessori experts to reflect on what had been tested and to identify what can be improved.
This collaborative process ensures that the project remains grounded in classroom realities. The lesson plans and the Teacher’s Guide are not developed only as theoretical resources, but are shaped through practice, feedback and dialogue among educators.
Looking ahead
The insights collected in Sofia will contribute to refining the MARIAN Teacher’s Guide and to preparing the next phase of national teacher training activities.
In the coming weeks, the MARIAN website will also share a dedicated article on the implementation phase between Girona and Sofia, offering a closer look at how teachers brought the lesson plans into their classrooms, what students produced and which first reflections emerged from the experience.
MARIAN continues to grow as a European community working toward a more inclusive, creative and meaningful mathematics education for all learners.
