Welcome to the Subud Education Association (SEA).

We are Subud* members working in the field of education who have formed an association to support each other, to share our ideas and practices, and to learn from and inspire each other.

As educators, we are dedicated to educational practices which embrace the inner and outer development of individuals of all ages so they may contribute to a just, caring and fulfilled global community. We wish to promote educational programs that encourage a truly human education.  

One of the aims of SEA is ‘To provide educational and other facilities for the development of the full potential of human beings.’ To read the SEA Mission Statement, please see the SEA announcement letter.

If you wish to donate to SEA, You can do so here.  Your donations are tax deductible in the USA. 

*Subud is an international, spiritual association of people of all nationalities, beliefs, faiths, and cultures. Find out more about Subud here. 

SEA Zoom presentations

In June, SEA began a series of talks on different education-related topics. You can watch a recording of these presentations on the SDIA YouTube channel here, or download the audio recordings here:

Who we are:

Faustina Ramos Coca-Pfeiffer 

Faustina Ramos Coca-Pfeiffer worked as an elementary and secondary school teacher in public schools in Austria. In 1995 – inspired by her experiences in the U.S.A. visiting the ´School Without Walls’, and by her experiences in South America, where she travelled for 2 years getting insight into indigenous cultures and social circumstances – she founded the Erlebnisschule, a Montessori School in the south of Vienna.

In the early 90s she discovered the ‘Life Forces Model’ by Solihin Thom and accomplished its therapeutic and personal development training over the following years. 

She adapted that model (now named the ‘Being Human Model’) for her education work. She has realized that the Montessori method in our days needs an additional tool to be efficient in facilitating the development of true human potential in students, parents, and teachers.

She has worked as principal and teacher in the Erlebnisschule for 25 years and as a facilitator.

She has two children; one is 31 the other 13 years old.

Salamah LeClaire

Salamah worked in education for over 40 years in all areas of the field.  She was a teacher in the USA and in Indonesia (primary and secondary) and a counselor for international students in the community college system in California and Washington states (USA). She was the principal of two schools in Indonesia and was instrumental in creating three schools: two in Jakarta and one in Kalimantan.  She developed the curriculum for grades one to ten in seven subject areas, wrote textbooks for English Primary one and two, Social Studies grades one to eight, and a book of supporting materials for a Christian school’s Character-Building curriculum for grades one to eight.  She is currently in the process of writing a book looking into Human Centered Education for primary students.

Salamah has also held many positions in Subud, the latest being that of WSA Administrator from 2015-2019.  She lives in Kalimantan with her husband Simon.  

Hadrian Pollard

Hadrian Pollard is an elementary educator living in North Carolina. He has taught in diverse educational settings: public and charter, traditional and progressive, urban and semi-rural. In his time as a teacher he has developed literacy, science, and social-emotional curricula, and built out-of-school learning experiences for students through filmmaking, theater, cross country, STEM, and music clubs. He is currently in pursuit of his PhD in the Teacher Education and Development program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. 

Rasunah Marsden.

Currently Chair of the Subud Education Association, Rasunah holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies. She has been a teacher, program coordinator and Associate Dean in language schools, high schools & universities in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Penticton and Vancouver. She is the editor of Raúl Gatika’s Hombre Roto (Broken Man) (2015); she is an anthologized Indigenous Poet & author of Dancing the Rounds (2011) and editor of Canada’s first collection of Indigenous creative non-fiction: Crisp Blue Edges (2000).  She is also a researcher and publisher, as well as an elder for Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation. Rasunah resides in North Vancouver and has four adult children and three grandchildren.

Fernando Fatah Nieva Martinez

Currently CEO of the Subud Education Association, Fernando Fatah Nieva Martinez is a Subud Mexican member who believes that education is the way to develop ourselves as true human beings.

Fernando has a bachelor’s degree in educational science and philosophy. He also has postgraduate studies in educational administration, educational policy, educational innovation for sustainability and a diploma in e-learning, and he promotes systemic, complex, and critical thinking.

He has been working as a consultant in education for 15 years and his companies have offices in Mexico, Peru and Chile. He has worked as a consultant for the National Governments of Chile, Peru and Mexico, and for the most important private and public universities in the country.

Halimah E. Polk, Ph.D. 

Halimah Polk earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University, her master’s degree from Stanford University and her doctorate from Claremont Graduate University and San Diego State University.  She has worked as classroom teacher in K-12, as a program director for low-income ethnically diverse high school students, and as a full-time college professor.  A few years ago, Halimah launched her own company, Educational Concepts, which specializes in grant-writing and development, evaluation, and project and curriculum concepts for non-profit organizations. 

Halimah now lives in South Florida. She also lived in Indonesia for three years and in 1999, she visited four Subud schools in Indonesia, Portugal, Colombia and Ecuador for her doctoral research.  After the death of their four -year old special needs child Mariama, Halimah and her then husband Rashid Butte established the Mariama Butte Memorial Fund under the auspices of Susila Dharma USA in 1988. (The fund continues to offer support to Subud children with special needs and their families.)  

Halimah is excited to be part of the working party to reinvent the Subud Education Association under the auspices of Susila Dharma International. 

Harris Roberts (to be added)

Garrett Thomson

Garrett Thomson is Chief Executive Officer and Research Director of the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace. He has taught at universities in the USA the U.K. and Colombia and is currently a Professor at the College of Wooster. He is the author or co-author/co-editor of 24 books. These include: Rethinking Secondary Education (2012); Human-Centred Education (2017); Understanding Peace Holistically (2019); Ethical Education (2020) and Happiness, Flourishing and the Good Life (2020) (all with Scherto Gill). 

Contact details:

Rasunah Marsden, Chair: [email protected] 

Or Hadrian Pollard, CEO: [email protected]