In 2013, Sjef Drummen, Jan Fasen, Bert Martens and Bert Sterken – all principals in the Roermond, Netherlands area – got together to draft their vision statement for a new education project – Agora Schools.
In August 2014 a small group was appointed as the foundational team at Agora in the city of Roermond (The Netherlands), which opened its doors to a modest thirty students.
In May 2015 Rob received a (very) short phone call:
Hi Rob, this is Sjef Drummen speaking. Can we talk about you working for Agora?
The call surprised Rob, but he said yes.
Sjef responded: Okay see you tomorrow at noon. Then he hung up.
While they had never spoken before, Rob and Sjef knew each other. Rob – using his investigative and deductive skills to figure out where Sjef’s office was – travelled there the following day, where they spoke for roughly five minutes.
During their brief exchange, Rob answered a couple of questions, with Sjef informing Rob: Within a couple of years I will retire and you must become my successor.
Rob revealed to Sjef that one of the main motivating factors for travelling across to meet with him was to get out of his office and explore the possibility of becoming part of a team that really wanted to get their hands dirty, to work with children and reframe what the concept of managing meant. This pleased Sjef, and so he was welcomed into the fold as one of the five core Agora team members in 2015.
By July 2018, Agora had grown quite significantly, and this meant someone needed to step up and represent Agora students and staff during management meetings. The community was seeking to embed a hierarchy by appointing a team leader, which Rob accepted under one condition – the goal of this team leader was to make the role itself redundant.
From that day on, Rob became guardian of the Agora vision, and responsible for helping grow his colleagues into a self-organised team, capable of supporting all of the learning at Agora.
If you want to find our more, please read Beyond the Classroom: Meet Agora, the School that Has no Rules (2023 Article) or visit Agora at Hundred.org.
robhouben.com 