Ruxandra Mercea: Transforming the Romanian education system one school at a time

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If you are wondering how you can have a more positive impact while you run a business or earn a living, you’re in the right place. Read on for examples of businesses, charities, government organisations, individuals and entrepreneurs who have done it or are achieving it - and often doing so at pace.

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Howard Lake
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Ruxandra Mercea: Transforming the Romanian education system one school at a time

Executive Director of the oldest and largest independent school in Romania; charity founder; and now founder and Head of School of a new adtech startup, Ruxandra Mercea is on a mission – to ensure that every child in every school matters.

It’s a mission with its roots in her own childhood. Ruxandra, like many in Romania, had a difficult time at school. The legacy left over from Ceaușescu’s Communist regime has cast a long shadow over the country, even in the education system where, she says, there remains a culture that can make it hard for children to be seen, to fit in and to thrive.

“We came out of Communism with a lot of unacknowledged traumas, with teachers and parents pushing how they were raised and educated onto the next generation, which was my generation, and those that followed. And unfortunately, fear-based education is still common 30 years later.”

Starting with one school

It’s this experience that influenced Ruxandra’s decision to leave a career in the business world for one in education. Joining Transylvania College, the school her parents opened during her childhood, and where she is now Executive Director, she set about trying to change its educational model to build a school experience very different to her own.

However, it wasn’t until her six-year-old daughter suffered her own damaging experiences at the same college whilst it was under Ruxandra’s leadership that the extent of the problem really became apparent, and she set her sights on transforming the whole education system.

“One day the school called my husband and told him our daughter was a problem child and that we should find out what’s wrong with her. I was the Head, so that was an awful moment – I felt I’d failed as a mum, as a wife, and as a Head. So, we took her to specialists and were fortunate enough to find a psychologist who said there was nothing wrong with her and that the problem was the adults around her.”

The first step was to work out what was going wrong at the school, and how to change it. It became clear quite quickly that part of the reason children were suffering was because the adults were also struggling at the hands of the system and needed support of their own.

Ruxandra says:

“I did an emotional audit of the school to find out what was wrong. Kids were criticised, punished, and labelled because we focused on behaviour instead of needs. There we were, already undergoing a cultural change process to bring in a new educational model but we were not going deep enough. The message was that we were failing the children and not the other way round, so we adults also needed to change. That was the moment I started therapy, and we also hired a team of wellbeing therapists to work with our staff.”

Scaling up the mission

The knowledge however that this was not a problem unique to the college but replicated in schools throughout Romania meant that simply solving the issue here was not enough.

Ruxandra’s next step was to develop a charity that works with schools to help them shift their culture and become places where staff and student wellbeing is as much a priority as an education that meets the needs of each individual child.

School of Trust (Scoala Increderii) started in September 2020 with 54 schools on its five-year transformation process that systematically changes the way education is done, free of charge. Over this time, a team of specialists works with everyone involved in children’s education, from principals to parents, to create an environment in which children can reach their potential, and school is a place where staff, children, and their families are all happier.

In just three short years it has reached more than 200 schools across the country, with a further 300 on the waiting list.

“We hit the nail on the head with School of Trust,” Ruxandra observes. “Our vision is to ensure that every child in every school matters – and we won’t stop until we’ve achieved this – but we realised that to do this we have to help the teachers. For them to fulfil the children’s needs they have to first understand themselves and learn how to form healthier relationships with each other.”

Going international

But children everywhere suffer when they don’t quite fit the education system, and this has led Ruxandra to go even further, launching an adtech startup, Spark Hybrid School, in September 2021. Aimed at 14-18-year-olds, it offers a blended education experience: online, and in person, with a mission to make education fit for the future and to reach children globally.

Building stronger

Her aim of cultural and behavioural change on a grand scale is an ambitious one, but the secret of Ruxandra’s success, she says, is her very clear vision and purpose – “Do not get in the way of a mom with a mission!” – combined with the strong network of support she’s built up. As well as her personal support network of family, friends and colleagues, she works with consultancy for purpose and business growth Revolutionise, which helped her with defining School of Trust’s mission at the outset and setting out a strategy and action plan for growing the charity.

Crucially too, she is part of the G30 for Education group: a community of 30 global education leaders who come together each year to discuss critical issues facing schools worldwide.

“When I go to these meetings once a year, I am able to see how normal my problems are. And also how others have dealt with similar challenges,” she says.

And there have been challenges. The biggest, Ruxandra notes, was the lack of finance at the beginning. With little funding available to new NGOs in Romania, most of the money to date has come from parents of students at Transylvania College.

“They’ve seen what we’ve achieved in our college so when I said I have this crazy dream – I want to change state schools, and will you help me? They said yes. So, until now it’s been parents and their companies giving to the School of Trust.”

Scaling up though to reach more schools and children requires more funding and the next stage is a public fundraising campaign with a far wider reach, for which Ruxandra is again working with the Revolutionise team to create a powerful campaign. It shares the compelling story, highlighting the potential for the future and asking people to support by giving via SMS or online, either as a one off, or recurring donation.

Focusing on the dream

Over a few short years, it’s been quite a journey. So, what are Ruxandra’s tips and lessons for other charity startups?

Having a purpose that everyone on the team understands and supports is essential, she says:

“The big learning was that if you have a clear purpose and you believe in it then the team believes in it. This makes it easier, because at the beginning you’re likely to have a lack of funds, a small team, and beneficiaries that are not sure what you do. You have a lot of healthy chaos at the beginning, and the purpose is what helps everyone get through that.

“I have thought a lot about my purpose over the years,” she muses. “And all these projects are built around helping people change, and all children being emotionally well by their 18th birthday. That’s the key driver for why I get up and why I sleep very well. My husband at some point asked me if I meant all the children in the world and I said yes. I have no idea how I’'ll do that, but I do have the determination to figure it out!”

It’s important, she believes, to find a problem that you care enough about to feel determined about solving it. “Not just because it’s the latest, the fanciest or it’s a trend. So, find something you are annoyed by in the world and dream high. And don’t listen to others when they tell you to dream less! If you care enough, make it your purpose!”

In fact, this is her key takeaway for others considering setting up a nonprofit, or in the early days of doing so.

“I’ve seen other charities start up with a lot of enthusiasm. And when the critics come and tell you dream lower, start smaller, do less, they get demotivated. My key takeaway is, don’t dream less. Don’t lower your dream just because others say so or because they are afraid.”

Looking to the future

Ruxandra’s next step is to bring what are currently three separate organisations together, and to help these organisations get to a stage where they don’t need her anymore.

 “We are soon to be 10 moms,” she says. “All the leaders in these organisations – the CEOs and marketing and salespeople on the team – are mothers. So the next step is to build this group of women up to start working and thinking and behaving like a group across all three organisations. I have the next two years to make this group independent of me so that in 2025 I can take some time off.”

Why? To spend some quality time with her family. With four children, and the eldest two in high school by this point, the time will be right for a break. “By the time we do this, they can be with Spark. After all, by this stage we will have just a few short years with them at home, and then they’ll be off into the world!”

The mission, of course, will continue!

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Resources

Are you looking to move into the social impact sector, to set up or grow your own purpose-driven company? Do you want to gain skills and knowledge in this area? Here are some events and opportunities that might help.

Supporting schools develop media skills

Media Trust is looking for volunteers to deliver all-day film-making workshops at state schools in West London.

If you work in film and TV, content creation or AI/tech, have experience in engaging groups of young people aged 16-17 and are free from 9:00-15:00 on either 12 or 18 July, they would love to hear from you. Contact: [email protected]

Which businesses are leading the move to Net Zero?

Forbes has produced a list of the top 100 US public companies that are “leading the way not just in transitioning to a low-carbon economy by 2050 but are also adjusting their business model to achieve sustainability targets”.

The five Net Zero Leaders are diversified financial companies, defence/aerospace and a bank - Moody’s, MSCI, Northrup Grumman, Bank of America, and S&P Global.

Explore the list to see which major employers might be aligned with your values.

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Beehiiv - the newsletter platform built for growth

Better banking

Since 1998, Co-op Bank has withheld finance from any business involved in the extraction of fossil fuels, and last year they became the first UK high street bank to join the Bank.Green Fossil Free Banking Alliance.

The alliance’s members have pledged themselves against the financing of the production or extraction of fossil fuels.

By working with Bank.Green, Co-op aims “to exert pressure on the rest of the banking industry to follow suit”.

The bank states “we know that many people still don’t know how their bank invests their money, so by encouraging consumers to switch their money from fossil fuel funders to an ethical bank, we’re making a big difference to the planet.”

The future of international development is on the cards

International development is changing and needs to change. But what might this change look like?

Bond has produced a set of Future Innovation Cards to present new ways to stretch and challenge thinking on the future of the sector.

Walking the green talk

Businesses in Europe that think they can get away with mere talk about their environmental credentials might have a surprise coming.

According to ESGToday, the European Parliament has voted 544-18 to approve the adoption of new proposed rules that will require companies “to substantiate and verify their environmental claims and labels, aimed at protecting consumers from greenwashing”.

One of the proposals is to include in the rules “a prohibition on green claims such as “carbon or climate neutrality” that are based solely on carbon offsetting schemes.”

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Locking in purpose

A business’ purpose and values can change over time, and not always for the better. How can you ensure that the mission doesn’t get diluted?

Chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely has rejigged the structure of its business with Tony’s Mission Lock. This offers a virtual share to ‘Mission Guardians’, independent experts who can use this to protect or challenge any attempt to change the company’s governance that they feel represents drift or a withering of the company’s purpose. The Mission Guardians - the company has started with three - have a range of options open to them to uphold the purpose, including to establish a legal enquiry.

The company is also planning to publish an open source guide to help other businesses who want to adopt this approach to protect their values and purpose.

People moves

Supply chain mapping nonprofit Open Supply Hub has announced its full Board of Directors, following nine new appointments.

In November 2022, the organisation, formerly the Open Apparel Registry, announced its expansion beyond the apparel sector. It is growing particularly in light of the new supply chain legislation being enacted globally. It has seen particular interest from new sectors such as food and beverage, sporting goods, electronics and toys.

Its board represents a diverse range of actors across global supply chains, from global brands and retailers, to human rights representatives and will support the organisation as they look to scale up their technology globally.

The board now has 53% female representation and members from Asia, Latin America, Europe and North America.

If you have a story to tell about how you’ve grown a business’ income and social impact at pace, do get in touch with us.

If you’d like to advertise on or sponsor future editions of Professionals With Purpose do contact Connor Seaton.