Speakers

Amira Kessem

I'm an alumna of Hadera Democratic School in Israel, which I attended from age 4 to age 18. I currently live in upstate New York.

Amukta Mahapatra

Founder-Director · SchoolScape

Amukta is the Founder-Director at SchoolScape, a center for educators. She organizes online courses for teachers, parents, and school heads on Montessori pedagogy and democratic culture. In 2004,…

Angela Pi & Joann Shen

Angela - I’m an education researcher and facilitator based in Taiwan, working at the intersection of learning ecosystems, policy-to-practice translation, and coalition convening. I currently contribute to research…

Carmela Wong

A.E from Hong Kong. Worked in a local democratic primary school as coordinator and administrator. Currently exploring about self and what is needed for an A.E. school to…

Charlie Moreno-Romero

Pedagogue, anthropologist and researcher. Interested in democratic education, SDT, SDL, Circle practice, educational commoning.

Christopher Sarkonak

Christopher is currently a high school physics teacher with 17 years of experience in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada and is working towards his Ph.D. in Education. He was the…

Colectivo Pluriversidad Latinoamericana

Todo sobre nosotros en www.pluriversidad.org

David Brown

David Brown is the Founding Principal of PROUD Academy in Connecticut and founder of Anchor Point Ventures, where he partners with schools and organizations to strengthen belonging, learner…

David Onda

David Onda - is a teacher and researcher in Slobodna skola. He has experience in qualitative and quantitative research approaches and mainly focuses on how community meetings and…

Dorothea Schütze

Dorothea is head of the Institute for the Development of Democracy (I.D.E) in Germany and always connects her work and activities with anti-discrimination and a critical look at…

Eve Tonkin

Eve is a member of the IDEC Inclusion & Diversity Committee, which works to maintain and raise inclusion and diversity at IDECs, and a founding member of the…

Ian Cunningham

Self Managed Learning Alliance supports democratic learning communities in the UK. Ian ran the largest and longest running learning community for 24 years before setting up the Alliance.…

Jennifer Goen

Jennifer Goen is a high school English teacher and Instructional Lead Teacher at the H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program, a democratic public school in Arlington, Virginia. She is committed…

Jerry Mintz

Jerry Mintz has been a leading voice in the alternative school movement since establishing AERO in 1989. In addition to his seventeen years as a public and independent…

Jessica Laus

Is currently pursuing a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Manitoba in Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Wayne State University, a…

Judy Arnall

Judy Arnall - BA, CCFE, DTM is a certified brain and child development specialist and master of non-punitive parenting and education practices. She created Unschooling Canada Association and…

Jun Eliahh Díaz González

Tallerista con prácticas orientadas desde el aprendizaje experiencial, el juego y la educación popular. Ha acompañado procesos empresariales y de formación con jóvenes emprendedores desde Nuestra Escuela en…

Juraj Mazak

Juraj Mazak is an expert in democratic and self-directed education, focusing on systemic change in education. He supports the development of school structures, policies, and practices that foster…

Kageki Asakura

Kageki Asakura has worked in both areas, the practices and the study of democratic education. Asakura has worked at the oldest free democratic school in Japan and founded…

Katarína Vassová

Katarina Vassova leads a team of pedagogical staff at a democratic school and supervises the methodological approach of self-directed education. She also ensures alignment with Slovak school legislation,…

Kateryna Botvinnik

educator and co-founder · One Crazy School, NGO Vilnosvita

Kateryna Botvinnik is an educator and co-founder of a democratic school in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. She is also a co-founder of the NGO Vilnosvita, a facilitator of self-directed education…

Lenka Mazakova

Lenka Mazakova is a co-founder of the Slobodna skola. She specializes in designing and implementing inclusive educational practices for students with diverse needs and behavioral challenges in democratic…

Liz Radday

Liz Radday is passionate about challenge based learning, student driven passion projects like Capstone and giving students voice and choice in the classroom. She spent sixteen years as…

Luz Olid Díaz and David Caballero Pradas

Luz Olid and David Caballero are the founders of Evolving Education, whose mission is to research and democratize how the most progressive learning spaces around the planet are…

Manuel Vergara Echeverría

Filosofo Alternativo, investigador en areas de la filosofía, educación y política, PhD Ciencias de la Educación, Licenciado en Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales, Universidades de Chile y La Serena,…

Marko Koskinen

The organizer of IDEC@EUDEC 2016, is the founder of three alternative schools, one democratic, one online and one for street children in Pakistan implementing democratic education principles. In…

Maryna Savchuk

Maryna Savchuk, is CEO of Volnobeh, an organization in rural Slovakia. Originally from Ukraine, she has extensive experience in youth leadership, refugee integration, and community-based education. She has…

Monica Cochran

Monica Cochran passionately advocates for removing the borders around learning. Active in the movement since 1978, with decades of experience including leadership at Clonlara School and SelfDesign Global,…

Nandini Deo

Nandini Deo is Associate Professor of International Politics whose research spans democratic education, secularism, gender, and civil society, with a primary regional focus on South Asia. She received…

Nao Saowanee Sangkara

Nao Saowanee Sangkara is a filmmaker, educator, and founder of Binsi, an emerging movement that weaves together natural living, democratic education, art, and community into one integrated life-practice.…

Olivia Loria & Cecelia Bradley

Olivia Loria is an international education consultant with 55 years experience working in private schools, public schools and with homeschoolers. She was the founder and director of Pinewood…

Roy Karp

Roy Karp is an experienced educator, writer, and advocate for small “d” democracy. As Director of the Alternative Diploma Program, he built a community based high school that…

Sifaan Zavahir

Sifaan Zavahir is a co-founder of Kinder Republic, Sri Lanka's first and only Democratic School, and a Founding Member of the Rights-Centric Education Network, advocating for education practices…

Tetiana Yermakova

youth leader, and a facilitator · Vilnosvita events

Tetiana Yermakova is a student at the democratic school One Crazy School, a youth leader, and a facilitator of Vilnosvita events.

​The Inclusion and Diversity Committee of IDEC

The Inclusion and Diversity Committee is made up of IDEC members who have decided to work together to increase diversity and inclusion within IDEC. Find out more about…

Tomis Parker

I've spent my entire career in the alternative education world. I started as a teaching assistant in a Montessori classroom, then worked as a facilitator at a startup…

Zahra Lightway

Zahra Lightway, M.Ed., is the co-founder of Light Way Learning and creator of Famli, a family practice of consent-based democracy. She has studied and practiced sociocracy since the…