ABOUT WONDERING SCHOOL
Wondering School investigates and supports an Education as Practice of Freedom
The project was created in 2016 as a journey to explore, learn and share a range of democratic and liberating education practices around the world.
We encounter and collaborate with people in schools, communities, informal education projects and organizations. We co-create projects, facilitate workshops and learning experiences, and create resources, such as films, to stimulate reflection and action to recreate school in alignment with the values of an emancipatory education.
Our vision is to grow learning communities based on dialogue, conscientization, freedom and engagement with the world. Through our WS journey we’ve been searching for answers and finding new questions, in a continuous process of learning and becoming. Our discovery is the process itself.
ABOUT US
Marianne Osorio and Charlie Shread co-founded Wondering School in 2016 as an independent research project exploring humanizing education rooted in Paulo Freire’s liberatory pedagogy. Together, they have visited over 40 diverse schools worldwide, gaining insights into educational practices across multiple countries. In 2018, they co-produced the feature documentary School Circles, which showcases six democratic schools in the Netherlands using sociocracy for governance. The film has been licensed by Canal Futura in Brazil, translated into 11 languages, screened in over 130 venues across more than 50 countries, and listed by Films for Action among the “Top 100 Documentaries to Change the World.” Following the film’s success, they co-created the Sociocracy for Schools (S4S) training course, which has graduated over 120 alumni internationally. Trained with John Buck and Edwin John, they have co-facilitated workshops in India, Austria, Germany, and Portugal, empowering educators worldwide with collective decision-making tools. Currently they give talks and workshops, participate in Q&As in universities, communities and organizations, and offer training and consulting to schools, educators and communities wishing to implement Sociocracy and Democratic Education in their own contexts.
Marianne Osorio is a Brazilian educational researcher, trainer and consultant with an MA in Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment from UCL Institute of Education. Her work is rooted in critical pedagogy and socio-environmental education. She worked as a science teacher in Brazilian state schools, where she facilitated democratic practices and created the Ubuntu project, transforming school areas into a community edible garden governed democratically with children. She also initiated and led the school’s first science fair, where students developed group projects and presented their work in a school-wide exhibition. Marianne served as project assistant for the Provisional World Children’s Parliament (2020-22) and worked as a learning coach at Kubrio. She currently offers training and consulting on democratic education and sociocracy worldwide.
Charlie Shread is a UK filmmaker, educator and consultant who brings 15 years of experience across video production, sound design, and collective facilitation. In 2011, he co-founded Change the Future, an experimental community exploring social collaboration tools to deepen democracy and advance collective intelligence. He is a sociocracy facilitator, having co-facilitated workshops with GovernanceAlive in India and Portugal. He was also a learning coach at Kubrio, facilitated in-person engagement activities and cooperative games with youth at the British Learning Academy, and mentored on the Ethical Journalism pathway at School of Humanity. Charlie runs the Filmmaker’s Club at Recess and serves as sound designer for The Spaceship Earth podcast. Committed to regeneration, he has funded the planting of over 12,800 trees through Ecologi. He holds a BA in Film Production from Arts University Bournemouth.