This text is a call to action. The title Escape from Teaching may sound a bit like an imperative. However, much of the recent findings from educational and brain research, especially regarding the potential benefits of informal and self-structured learning, are never realized in educational practice. It is time to ask: What did we really learn from all those years that we spent in instructional and often insulting contexts? What have we got to show from our formal education and what can we become as a result of this experience? What do we forget in such contexts and did it deprive us of our self-confidence and self-structuring skills? What consequences are associated with seeking and testing can equip us with permanent skills and abilities? How could educational institutions change to become places for successful self-directed skills development? And, how can we, as individuals and as a society, develop the potential that rests within us all?

The debate over the facts is in full swing. Many people do not merely invent facts, but also feel the need to spread them. The lies and fake news that serve the cause of populism is rightly appalling. Deliberate disinformation has become a means of controlling politics and public opinion. The purpose of this book is to oppose this up-and-coming phenomenon of “weak thought.” It is a passionate plea for a new Age of Enlightenment. Scientists tend to be much more skeptical about “truths”. In the process of formulating evidenced-based reasoning, undisputed facts are not deliberately hidden, but put forwards for open debate. The free expression of opinion, a free press, and the freedom of research and teaching guarantee the discussion and debate needed to argue the factual evidence in a democracy. The effectiveness of education is an important issue to consider. Learning has always been a way to deal with uncertainty. An important aspect of education in our modern world is about preparing learners to deal with change. It is a kind of preparation for the insecurity of not knowing what is coming and an openness that threatens to withdraw the proven and the validated.

This is a book about personal mastery for school leaders and their students. It references an ongoing concern about reflection in learning, education, and human development. Innumerable ideas and concepts about this have been advanced in the past; most claim more than they can deliver. The notes and reflections on personal mastery presented here are not intended to be yet another version of such traditional treatments. Rather, this book looks at personal mastery from a new perspective and considers it as the result of self-empowered education and practice.

How to Lead without Domineering: 29 Smart Leadership Rules is a kind of tool book which contains almost 30 suggestions for self-reflection of leaders in any kind of leading situation – on the job, in a honorary post, or in any other context. Leaders reach their own limits and the limits of others, but how can they overcome these limits? What is characteristic for a good leader and how is it possible to achieve one’s objectives in cooperation with others? Clever and wise leaders support contexts, form relationships, and promote spirit by consolidating the momentum or dynamic of groups, teams, and organizations. Clever leaders rarely use commands or lay down the law, even though instruments of power and their handling are not unknown to them. Clever leadership implies taking risks, as leaders who adopt the principles of this book give up one-dimensional arguing and if-then-logic statements. Professor Dr. Rolf Arnold presents different tools for clever and effective leadership, and he shows how the typical challenges for a leader in the nowadays world can be met. His book is based on recent scientific findings in the field of leadership research and on almost thirty years of practical experience as a leader, supervisor, and coach within different fields and organizations worldwide.

“Teaching” and “learning” are two interrelated terms used to express our thinking about a major aspect of human development. However, didactics developed into an art, the “art” of teaching, while the processes of learning were neglected and not researched. Nowadays, many people perceive “learning” as an undesirable activity. The experience of learning is thought of as something expected of them from the outside and it is often remembered as stressful, a pressure to perform, a fear of failure, and alienation. But there are also some enriching experiences such as the joy of discovery, to ultimately achieve after many attempts something that you could not do previously, or to see a situation in a new light. How to Teach Without Instructing relinks teaching and learning. It examines the teaching practices in institutions of learning and formulates “rules” that assist teachers in their efforts to focus their teaching on the learner. The rules are based on situations that are routinely encountered in the teaching environment.

If we could look into the hearts and minds of our children, we would often realize how little contact there is when we are teaching them. Teaching without a relationship is like swimming without water! This means you cannot raise a child if there is no real relationship. Of course, it is all about the kind of relationship which you as the adult establish towards the children. This is not a partnership and our children are not our friends – they are something else and more: They need our adult voice, but also affection and guidance – in a positive, i.e., horizon-broadening, security-giving, and also a boundary-marking way. This book is about the concept of inclusive parenting and teaching. The 29 Rules for Smart Parenting are intended to help the reader to become more effective as parents and teachers.

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