Author. Speaker. Ambassador for Children
"Our children become as we see them. If you were to retain only one thing from our meeting here, it would certainly be this sentence, so simple and so decisive, because it is the source of a complete change of attitude towards childhood."
Born in 1971, son of researcher and educator Arno Stern (with whom he is a close collaborator), author and international lecturer, appointed ambassador for childhood, André Stern grew up outside of any schooling. Through a reflection guided by his own experience as a child and a parent, he draws on the most recent scientific discoveries to describe the child as a giant of potential, to speak of the spontaneous dispositions that await our trust, to announce the advent of a new attitude towards the child, and to invite us to become sowers of enthusiasm.
Married, father of two children, André Stern is also a musician, composer, instrument maker, speaker, two-time TEDx guest and journalist. He was appointed Director of the "Men for Tomorrow" Initiative by Prof. Dr. Gerald Hüther, researcher in advanced neurobiology. He is the initiator of the "Ecology Childhood" movement. Since 2024, André Stern, continuing his more than 30 years of work alongside his father, ensures the preservation and influence of his father’s work. He is one of the protagonists of "Alphabet", the film by Austrian filmmaker Erwin Wagenhofer ("We feed the world" and "Let's make money") and co-author of the book of the same name (Ecowin editions - 2013). His work in the media, his activities as a lecturer in universities, with education professionals and the general public respond to a growing interest on the part of all those who, from near or far, live and work with children - or who have been, themselves, children.
"Children are natural learners, yet so many of them tire of learning as they go through school. One reason is that the rituals of education don't resonate with the rhythms of their curiosity. André Stern is the embodiment of natural learning and achievement. A renowned artist, educator and loving parent, he shows how all children can flourish when we understand more deeply both how they learn and why and provide the best conditions for their growth and development."
– Sir Ken Robinson
Books (main books)
André Stern is the author of numerous books, written in French and/or German, regularly bestsellers, translated in several languages (Polish, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Romanian...)
You will find a complete bibliography by clicking here.
You can order these books in our specialized and independent bookshop by clicking here.
Arno Stern
"My Father Arno Stern is a great role model for me. But I do not want to be him. No: he is so himself that he makes me want to be as true to myself as he is to himself. This is the way children feel about the people who inspire them. We see our past in them: they see their future in us."
Passionate since childhood about his father's work, André Stern has accompanied him since 1989 on his lecture and training tours around the world, becoming an expert in the field through this immersion. In the early 2000s, he initiated the transition to the digital age, which revolutionized Arno Stern's teaching and public access. From this daily collaboration, the common enterprise born of Arno Stern's work emerges and continues to develop gradually and organically, with Arno Stern himself, his wife Michèle, and their children Eléonore and André at its core.
About André, Arno writes in 2023: "He is the only one to whom I can entrust with complete confidence the communication around my work."
Since the publication of his first book, "…und ich war nie in der Schule" (…And I Never Went to School), and the significant impact that followed, André Stern has traveled the world, giving countless lectures and interviews. This dynamic contributes to a new media golden age for Arno Stern, marked by collaborations with figures such as Prof. Dr. Gerald Hüther, film director Erwin Wagenhofer, Dr. Michel Odent, Albert Jacquard, Sir Ken Robinson, etc., amplifying both his notoriety and popularity.
In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Arno Stern’s online training courses were launched, which Arno and André conducted together. Thereafter, Arno Stern gradually handed over the presentation of his trainings to André, who has run them alone since 2023. Arno then transferred to André the presidency of "Arno Stern Training", an organization created to provide Arno Stern's courses at the source, and the only entity authorized to use Arno Stern's historical didactic original material. The training offered by "Arno Stern Training" provides access to all the latest content, all courses, all lectures, all images, and all diagrams designed by Arno Stern himself. It enables the exploration of his entire scientific research and its results, and the acquisition of all the skills essential to practicing the profession of "Play of Painting Servant" ™.
Today, André and his sister Eléonore, continuing their work of over 30 years at their father's side, ensure, together with their mother Michèle Stern, not only the preservation and influence of Arno Stern's scientific and pedagogical work and legacy but also its ongoing development, which is constantly evolving.
The Institut de Recherche en Sémiologie de l'Expression Arno Stern (I.R.S.E-A.S.) has entrusted André with the task of presenting his father's legendary public lectures from now on, using the original textual and iconographic material.
Ecology of Childhood
The ecology of childhood proposes, above all, a new attitude towards childhood. An attitude of respect and trust in the spontaneous dispositions of the child, throughout their life.
Initiated by André Stern, the ecology of childhood movement was officially launched at the 1st International Congress of the same name on October 3, 2014 in Montreal. It is in full expansion.
Alphabet
From France to China, from Germany to the United States, Alphabet questions an educational system totally focused on competition and quantitative results to the detriment of imaginative abilities. With this film, the director brings to a close the trilogy begun with WE FEED THE WORLD and LET'S MAKE MONEY, with the help of education experts such as Sir Ken Robinson, a PISA official and Arno Stern.
Director: Erwin Wagenhofer
Screenplay: Erwin Wagenhofer and Sabine Kriechbaum
Music: André Stern
Production: Mathias Forberg, Viktoria Salcher (Prisma Film), Peter Rommel (Rommel Film)