Marianne Franke-Gricksch is a contemporary German pedagogue and constellator, trained directly by Bert Hellinger. Her most distinctive contribution is the application of the systemic approach to the school and educational field: working with teachers to understand classroom dynamics, with parents concerned about their children's difficulties, and with students themselves when the school system can provide support.
Central Contribution: Franke-Gricksch documented that many seemingly individual difficulties children experience in school—dyslexia, attention deficit, disruptive behaviors, inexplicable academic failure—are better understood when the dynamics of the family clan are observed. The child is, unknowingly, representing some unresolved systemic issue in their family.
Her most widely read book: You Are One of Us — Systemic Insights and Solutions for Teachers, Students, and Parents (2001, translated by Alma Lepik). It is recommended reading for teachers and school counselors who wish to incorporate a systemic perspective.
Key Concepts: 'school belonging' (teachers who have been important to one generation 'belong' to the school system of subsequent ones), respect for generational hierarchies in school, systemic understanding of bullying and school exclusion.
Importance for Constelando: many clients are mothers concerned about their school-aged children. Franke-Gricksch's work offers a framework for understanding that the child's symptom can be a sign of something in the clan that is asking for attention.
Bibliography
- You Are One of Us — Systemic Insights and Solutions for Teachers, Students, and Parents — Marianne Franke-Gricksch. Alma Lepik, 2001 (orig. German 2001).
These books are in the reference library that nourishes Constelando el Origen.
Related terms
Bert Hellinger
German psychotherapist (1925-2019). Founder of Family Constellations and formulator of the orders of love.
See entrySchool Constellations (educational)
Application of the systemic method to the educational field, developed by Marianne Franke-Gricksch. Works with classroom dynamics, learning difficulties, and the teacher's role from a systemic perspective.
See entryParental Child
A child who assumes the emotional role of an adult—caring for their parents, mediating between them, containing their sadness—breaking the systemic order.
View detailsInvisible Loyalty
An unconscious commitment to the suffering or destiny of an ancestor, which the descendant carries unknowingly, out of systemic love.
View detailsA session that names what hurts
If you recognize this dynamic in your own story, a Family Constellation can reveal where it comes from and what movement can bring order to it. Daniela accompanies each case with respect.
Sessions in Spanish only