Lecture series on systemic presence in education

Twelve perspectives

Twelve perspectives for looking at education more consciously and getting moving from there. You can see this series of talks as a house with different doors. Behind every door lies the same systemic body of thought, but every visitor comes in through a different question.

• A head teacher thinks: ‘I'm carrying too much.’
• A team thinks: ‘Why do we keep falling into the same patterns?’
• A school with several head teachers thinks: ‘Why is shared leadership so complicated?’
• A teacher thinks: ‘Why do I keep finding myself caught between parents and pupil?’
• A team that has seen several staff changes thinks: ‘Why can't we make a fresh start?’
  
  Behind these different questions lie systemic order and systemic presence.

Looking systemically isn't only for when something gets stuck. It also helps you to understand why something is going well, what you want to keep and where new growth is possible.

All the talks are related, but each one answers different questions.

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FOUR CATEGORIES

A. THEME: LEADERSHIP AND POSITION

The leader's place is at the centre.

For whom? Head teachers, deputy head teachers, policy teams, coordinators, middle management and school boards.

Talk 1. The school leader amid all the expectations - highly recommended
What if leadership becomes a place with too much pressure?

👉  We look at the person in the place of leadership and everything that ends up there. 

Talk 2. Leadership that is fully taken up provides grounding
When the school leadership stands clearly in its own place, the school gains more calm, direction and trust.

👉 We look at the effect of clear leadership on the whole system.

Talk 3. The pitfalls and strengths of shared leadership

👉 We look at the order between several leaders.

Number 1 is about pressure on the place, number 2 about taking up the place, number 3 about sharing the place.

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B. THEME: TEAM DYNAMICS AND SYSTEMIC HEALTH 

The focus shifts from the individual leader to the team as a system.

For whom? Whole school teams, school leadership teams, pupil support teams, policy teams, school groups and educational organisations.

Talk 4. Some colleagues leave, but their place remains

What unfinished departures do to a school team.

👉 This talk is very well suited to schools dealing with frequent staff changes, mergers, retirements, conflicts or difficult departures.

Talk 5. Seven common systemic warning signs in a school team and their path to recovery - highly recommended
We start from symptoms that a team recognises.

Talk 6. What becomes visible can grow.
Five common systemic sticking points in a school.

👉 We look at a deeper layer and explore which dynamics may lie beneath the symptoms.

Talk 7. Clear places and roles
Who carries what in a school that moves forward in a healthy way?

👉We look at who stands where and what each person carries within the whole.
From concrete signals → making visible → bringing order → restoring.

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C. THE SCHOOL AS A LIVING SYSTEM

This is not about ‘What is happening in our team?’. The question that can be asked is: ‘What kind of system is our school really, and which invisible dynamics are at play within it?’.

For whom? School teams, school leadership and policy teams, teachers, pupil support coordinators and pupil counsellors. 

Talk 8. The child between two systems
How parents and teachers can make the difference together.

👉 Very well suited to mixed groups of parents and education professionals.

Talk 9. A school is not a family
Family and school follow different principles of order. What happens when a school team starts to function as a family system after all?

👉 We look at recognisable phenomena such as colleagues who start taking care of each other, head teachers who take on a parental position, staff who start behaving like children, loyalties that push professionalism aside, conflicts that become personal, people who want to rescue each other, and so on.

Talk 10. The school as ‘the team's child’.

The team's invisible parental role.

👉 We look at what happens when a team starts behaving as the parent of the school.

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D. PRESENCE AS THE FOUNDATION FOR PROFESSIONAL ACTION 

For whom? For everyone in education. School leaders, teachers, facilitators, care professionals and teams.

Talk 11. Presence and systemic growth

From inner calm to clear collaboration.

👉 This is a foundational talk on systemic presence. It is the basic attitude from which professional and systemic action becomes possible. Working systemically is not only about analysing patterns. It is also about how you are present in the system. Can you observe without reacting straight away? Can you stay in your own place? Can you tell the difference between what is yours and what belongs to the other person or to the system?

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SIGNATURE TALK - highly recommended

Talk 12. Personal mastery and the essence of teaching - Teaching by being

This talk represents my fundamental vision of education and is based on the book De eigenwijze kikker - Het geheim van lesgeven en opvoeden. 

For whom? Mainly for teachers, educational advisers, teacher training programmes and people who work with children and young people.

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LEARNING PATHWAY 

These talks focus on 

• Observing and distinguishing: 5 - 7 - 8 - 11.
• Understanding patterns and dynamics: 4 - 6 - 9 - 10.
• Taking up your position and giving direction: 1 - 2 - 3.

FORMAT - INTERACTIVE SYSTEMIC TALK FOR A SCHOOL TEAM

Each talk

• Is interactive.
• Lasts 2 to 2.5 hours at most.

Each talk combines:

• Clear systemic insights and frameworks.
• Recognisable situations from everyday teaching practice.
• Interactive moments and reflection.
• Room for questions and for whatever emerges in the group.
• A concrete translation to your own school context. 

BOOK A TALK

Fill in the form below to book one or more talks. 
Once your request has been received, you will be contacted by phone to arrange the practical details and the fee.

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