“A school is a living organism and behaves like a body.”

How do you guarantee quality education if, as a school organisation, you cannot fill your vacancies? How do you create trust among the staff who are available, among the parents and the pupils themselves? We could palaver about it at length, but one thing is certain. If our body lacks important minerals, vitamins, nutrients and certain chemical elements, it starts to falter. If you do not intervene in time, it falls ill. A school is a living organism and reacts in a similar way.

Deficiencies in our body arise because it is overburdened by various forms of stress from psychological, physical, emotional and environmental factors. The body exhausts itself further and further, and its functions become disrupted. Its self-healing capacity weakens and, if nothing is done, the complaint becomes chronic.

The immune system of schools is affected in exactly the same way. The signals have been going on for years. The stress factors for management and teachers outweigh the nourishing elements education receives. The system becomes exhausted. Who wants to work in an environment that cannot generate enough energy? Or in which people keep looking at the complaints in the same old way? The result stays the same. The chances are high that you will flee and go looking for a greener pasture. So it is high time the immune system of schools was boosted. And just as after recovering from a serious illness, where the patient has been transformed into ‘a different person with a different outlook’, as they say themselves, so schools can feel a fresh new wind blowing.

The most precious diamond in the world

And yet schools can offer their services to the loveliest clientele you can imagine: adorable toddlers and nursery children, curious and playful primary school children, and teenagers who want to widen their world and their view of it. What wonderful challenges lie in dealing with these young folk. It is a life-sized question mark to me why policymakers would not treat the education system as if it were the most precious diamond in the world. A diamond that can be an example of brilliance. Just as we want our young people to shine in the world, now and later.

“Looking from another field opens your perception to hidden traumas and to the road to recovery.”

As said above, we can only achieve different results if we look in a different way. If we play the game according to the traditional rules, you will not get new results. So which game can we play? That is the game of not-knowing, which takes place in the field of not-knowing. Not-knowing almost seems like sacrilege to us, rational people that we are and trained to want to know. And yet it is worth entering the field of not-knowing.

“The game of not-knowing takes place in the field of not-knowing.”

During systemic constellations we work with that information which is not available to our rational brain, but which we can make contact with. The current problems in schools can find a place there. The various elements of the problem being explored are called representatives and are chosen from among the participants at a day of educational constellations. They are given a place in the space (the room) in an intuitive way, at certain positions in relation to one another and facing in a certain direction. In this way the unconscious mental image of the person asking the question is made visible. The representatives experience information from the field of not-knowing which can be used to recognise and acknowledge traumas and to activate new elements. It is a powerful way of working that neutralises fields of tension and offers insights you could never have thought up in advance. Just as, with a not very well-known illness, you finally find the doctor who traces the real cause and can determine the next steps from there.

The same thing happens in every systemic educational constellation. We arrive at insights that were unreachable before. With them we take small or large steps forward, but forward in any case. An educational constellation is an instructive way of working that can be intense and emotional at the same time. It lifts you up, whatever the question you have brought. Experiencing an educational constellation yourself is far more powerful than I could ever put into words.

What can a systemic view and educational constellations do for you?

Do you sometimes experience at school …

• a lack of safety,
• imbalance and chaos,
• pressure and stress,
• a lack of time,
• a lack of energy,
• a lack of motivation,
• too many little fires to put out,
• situations you cannot manage to resolve?

Would you like to make school …

• with more balance and safety,
• with less pressure in the boiler,
• with more flow and more energy,
• with a stronger foundation to start from,
• in keeping with your inner leadership,
• through smoother collaboration within the team?

Benefits of systemic constellations / educational constellations

• Many possible applications.
• Time-saving and energy-saving.
• Suitable for all levels.
• The effects keep working for a long time.
• Leaves everyone their self-worth.
• Everyone involved is seen and heard.
• It becomes easier to take up your own place.
• Suitable for problem situations.
• Suitable for exploration and clarification.
• The situation and the people involved start to move.

A few experiences from participants:

• It is about yourself. That is good news.
• There is a natural order.
• You mean a great deal to your school.
• You can achieve more with fewer worries.
• When I feel it here, I recognise it in the school context.
• What you take away with you is conscious BEING.
• The impact of your rucksack on how you function at school.
• Judgements are taken away. Understanding grows.
• Easy presence exercises that can be applied in practice.
• The way you function yourself improves and becomes easier.
• My own place is clearer.
• You can find other experiences in the video.

All the information about the training, the target groups, dates and rates can be found here.

Transformation programme: A systemic view beyond stress at school

• Eight training days
• 30' FREE online coaching
• FREE book: De eigenwijze kikker (The Headstrong Frog) — The secret of teaching and raising children
• Training certificate
• Opening day 25 September 2022

Day of educational constellations

• Sunday 13 November 2022
• Early-bird discount until 1 October 2022
• Possibility to purchase De eigenwijze kikker.
• Certificate of continuing professional development.

With a zest-for-life greeting

Hilde Van Bulck

• Consciousness architect, systemic constellation facilitator and advisor, speaker, writer.
• Systemic coaching, training and support for education professionals.