About me

  • Expert in Democratic/Self-Directed/Agile Education
  • Certified teacher of Mathematics and English for High School, issued by the state of Saxony
  • Grew up in East-Germany, lived in Nicaragua and USA
  • Languages: German, English, Spanish, Russian

Presentations & Panels

So far I have held the following presentations, participated in panels, and organized the following events:

  1. Report on the European Conference for Democratic Education 2015, screening of “Schools of Trust” at Freie Alternativschule Dresden, Germany, 2015
  2. “Can we trust our children? Experience from democratic schools.” presentation at Burning Man in Nevada, USA, 2016
  3. Screening “Doing Nothing All Day” and panel discussion with two students, a parent and me as a staff member of Diablo Valley School. Oakland, California, USA, 2017
  4. “Radical Education” — a panel discussion with education leaders in Oakland, California, USA, 2017.
  5. Panel discussion after screening of the movie „Berlin Rebel High School“, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stifung, Berlin, 2017
  6. Workshop „Schule mal demokratisch: Beispiele & Zukunftswerkstatt“ (schools, democratic at last: examples and future workshop) at Landestreffen der Schulen ohne Rassismus (Schools against racism meeting of Saxony), Dresden, 2018
  7. Session „Democratic Education“ at INL-Day of Initiative für Neues Lernen (initiative for new learning), Berlin, 2018
  8. Presentation for a school start-up group and future parents, after screening the movie “Alphabet”: Immerkind Heidesee & Freie Schule LOS, Brandenburg, 2019
  9. Workshop “Education crash course” as part of preparation of volunteers for the NGO Weltweite Initiative e.V., Bad Elster, 2019
  10. Workshop “How do Democratic Schools work?” at a conference for school directors across Germany — Berliner Schulleitungstagung, Berlin, 2019 (Link)
  11. Presentation for Miteinander.Schule, Berlin/online, 2021 (Link in German)
  12. Workshop at Fachtag Partizipation & Beteiligung, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Demokratiepädagogik e.V., Berlin, 2021 (Link in German)

Invite me to speak at your event! Contact me here.

Experience

I currently work at Demokratische Schule X in Berlin. In the past, I have worked at the following schools: Freie Alternativschule Dresden, St. Benno-Gymnasium Dresden, Diablo Valley School (A Sudbury School), APEGO-Schule Berlin.

I have visited the following schools: Sands School in Ashburton, UK, Neue Schule Hamburg, Freie Schule Leipzig, Hudson Valley Sudbury School, Arts & Ideas Sudbury School, Jersey Shore Free School, Philly Free School, Agile Learning Center NYC, Brooklyn Free School, Demokratische Schule X in Berlin, Evangelische Schule Berlin Zentrum.

I have participated in the following conferences: educamps 2012 in Illmenau and 2013 in Berlin; AERO 2016 in the USA; EUDEC 2013 in the Netherlands, 2015 in Poland, 2017 in France, 2018 in Greece, 2019 in Ukraine, 2022 EUDEC & IDEC at Summerhill Festival of Childhood.

Furthermore, I volunteered in an educational setting in Nicaragua for a year, which has opened my eyes in so many ways (document in German).