Laura-Maria Sinisalo
Laura-Maria Sinisalo has a Master of Education degree from the University of Oulu with a focus on Intercultural competencies. She has worked in the field of education for more than twenty years and has worked in the NGO sector, in UNESCO, and in the department of education in Helsinki. Currently, she works as a pedagogical director at Mightifier, which focuses on social-emotional learning and character development at school. Laura-Maria is a member of the RAN (Radicalisation Awareness Network) Expert Pool of the European Commission, as well as a member of Resilience and violent attitudes in education expert network of Helsinki University.
She has written some articles on how prevention of violent extremism, democracy education, and dealing with controversial issues through difficult conversations enhances everyone’s social-emotional and democracy skills and prepares students for the future. Throughout Laura-Maria’s career, her passion has been to create a school culture that supports democratic values, brings out students’ voices, and values every student as they are. In her free time, she is most often found beside a soccer field cheering her boys to become future stars in soccer or anything else they choose.