sociocratic learning workshop
in partnership with kinda education
5th april 2025
10am - 5pm
secluded woodland ~ east london e11
all details and dates below
“sociocracy in education means everyone has a say in how learning happens, making the process more inclusive and empowering."
~ gerard endenburg, founder of sociocracy
workshop details
tickets include homemade fireside lunch from our local wildgoose bakery, plentiful tea & biscuits, materials and vat
we offer payment plans & subsidised places for those who need and would otherwise be unable to attend.
about the workshop
imagine a world where your voice was as important as everyone else's. a place where your voice and ideas were valued and acted upon. this is what the sociocratic model was created for.
so what actually is sociocracy? it is a method of governance that is based on the value of equality. it suits spaces and organisations that want to self-govern.
so what does self governing mean? - it's the right to make autonomous decisions and the ability to exercise ‘power or control’ over situations without external interference.
what's that got to do with forest school - one of the forest school principles is named the ‘community principle’ describing how “forest school uses a range of learner-centred processes to create a community for development and learning”. sociocratic principles can help create a holistic and person centered community- its a method that flows throughout organisations - the adults doing the ‘business stuff’ and children organising ‘their stuff’. in a circle we can all see each other and all be seen and this is how sociocratic governance works. be it a circle in the woods or in an online meeting. small circles are the bones of the sociocratic method of rounds and consent.
this introduction workshop will cover
the unspoken hierarchy of the adult
how to empower folk to participate
the principles and key tools of sociocracy
how to support equality and continuous improvement
the workshop is facilitated by mell who has a fiery passion for horizontal ways of working and is the co-founder and vision holder for kinda education- a radical nature based progressive education social enterprise who uses sociocracy to govern all they do. kinda have grown a sociocratic method that is used across the multigenerational organisation.
mell has been using consensus decision making and sociocratic ways of organising for 25 years. her journey started as an activist, then co-running a small school ( wild meadows) and now at kinda education.
the facilitator
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education and training (ptlls) / degree in therapy / working with challenging behaviours in the outdoors / forest school
mell has been facilitating nature connection work for over 25 years. in her words she “absolutely adores working with people within nature”. mell works with all ages, and abilities, facilitating through the theories of forest school, earth education, art of mentoring deep nature connection and environmental education.
mell delivers qualifications to adults who want to learn how to transform into forest school facilitators and has trained over 450 adults so far ( upto april 2023). mell offers a wide range of cpd and mentoring to outdoor educators to both individuals and educational settings.
mell specialises in autonomous education for all, and has a fiery passion for non-hierarchical ways of creating community. she also holds space to support children and women to step courageously through human transitions.
mell started to work within this field after many years of environmental campaigning, believing that if people felt connected to the natural world, they would more readily take an active role in fostering the sustainability of the planet. from this grew her interest in finding ways that all people in her working community could be involved equally in making decisions. which is where mell’s interest in the model ‘sociocracy’ developed, and this interest continues to grow within her role as vision holder for kinda education.
before co-founding kinda education mell worked for different organisations and charities- including the green light trust, ringsfield eco centre, inter-nature, the country trust and campaign for nuclear disarmament. as her children grew into young adults she studied to become a shiatsu practitioner whilst co-creating and building a nature based- child centred school called ‘wild meadows’,and to fill any spare time co-created a political theatre company called ‘theatre of war’ who topped a giant statue of gw bush in trafalgar square in 2003. (bbc news | england | london | thousands protest against bush )
mell is on a mission to bring nature back into learning and to build a multi-generational approach to education. in her words “we live in a time where we are going to need our children to grow into holistically nurtured divergent thinkers, so let’s get going and create learning spaces that do just that!”
