MATTS
The Regional Centre for the Alexander Technique
A centre of excellence offering:
a first-class professional training for teachers
shorter intensive courses for the public
postgraduate training for teachers
continuing professional development (CPD)
MATTS is a STAT approved professional training course for teachers made up of 1600 class hours, together with some home study. Graduates are certified by STAT and are eligible to join the Society as teaching members.
Full time training usually takes three years. However, nowadays many students choose to train part-time and are free to choose from a wide range of options in their training schedule.
We also offer postgraduate training and individually designed courses for people who have had a foundation course of lessons and who would like to deepen their Alexander Technique skills in an intensive group setting, and/or for those who have an interest in training and would like to explore this further before making a commitment to train.
At the moment (September 2023) we have 14 trainee teachers, one postgraduate student and several students that visit us regularly.
Students at MATTS benefit from the work of an exceptionally large number of different teachers, including many of considerable experience.
We have the advantage of being the regional centre for the Alexander Technique and around 25 teachers are involved in the work of our training course. Students can usually expect to see at least 10 different teachers during the course of a normal week of training, a number rarely found elsewhere.
In addition, we regularly host notable teachers from elsewhere in the UK.
Students at MATTS will find a learning environment that is friendly, supportive, inclusive and professional.
You can find detailed information about our training course for teachers on this page.
You can find some answers to the question "Why train at MATTS?" on this page.
There are answers to many "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) about training as an AT teacher on this page.
MATTS was founded in 2001 and has graduated 37 teachers. The great majority of our graduates have active teaching practices today. Several have served, and continue to serve, on STAT Council, including as Chair, and one of our graduates now directs the teacher training course in Edinburgh.
MATTS was founded and led by Malcolm Williamson. Malcolm was assisted by Peter Bloch for several years and then by Nigel Evans.
After 16 years we closed our training course for a break at the end of 2017. However, we continued without a pause with weekly and then twice-weekly classes for teachers and potential trainee teachers led by Peter Bloch and based on a traditional training course format.
We were due to reopen our training course in April 2020 but this was postponed because of the Covid pandemic. We moved twice-weekly classes online with an emphasis on the more academic aspects of the Technique. In September 2020 we re-opened as a half-time training consisting of intensive individual lessons when permitted and two online classes each week.
In September 2021 we re-opened as a full-time training course for teachers with ten trainees and two postgraduate students and this number has gradually increased since then (with thirteen students and one postgraduate student from September 2022). We continue in the long-established MATTS tradition of providing a first class traditional training as a teacher of the Alexander Technique in a friendly and inclusive environment.
Who has trained as an Alexander Teacher at MATTS?
People from a wide variety of backgrounds including professionals in education, medicine, psychology, music, writers, IT people, and more.
MATTS Alumni
Gillian Thorndyke* July 2003
Wendy Broad* July 2003
Pauline Leng July 2004
Miriam Press July 2004
Liz Hulse July 2004
Tom Clough* March 2005
Robin Todd July 2005
Sheila Bulley* July 2005
Giles Smith July 2006
Julia Woodman December 2006
Pete Robinson March 2007
Ann Whitehead July 2007
Janice Yule July 2007
Neil Roberts December 2007
Sue Fleming March 2008
Alice Burke July 2008
Gillian Pierce July 2009
Andrea Walsh December 2009
Kathy Charlton December 2009
Julia Roberts March 2010
Marie Leenhardt March 2010
Kim Cant December 2010
Ruth Currell December 2010
Gerard Healey* November 2012
David Hudson December 2012
Andy Moorhouse February 2013
Jenny Fox Eades April 2014
Annalisa Faenza July 2014
Maggie Bishop July 2014
Karen McCarthy* July 2014
Sue Urquhart March 2016
Kate Jacobs October 2016
Charlotte Woods July 2017
Rhiannon Jones October 2017
Su Harrison October 2018
Andrea Hughes** August 2020
Dan Parr November 2022
* Transferred from a STAT-approved school
**Completed part of training at MATTS