LearnFire Brings Executive Function and Study Skills Expertise to AGIS 2026
Updated: 21 hours ago
When Dr Reece Wartenberg founded LearnFire in 2020, he had already spent years working with students across international schools in different parts of the world.
As a teacher and academic lead, Wartenberg supported students following IGCSE, IB and A-Level programmes. He taught students from more than 60 countries while living and working in Spain, Thailand, South Africa, Hong Kong and Portugal.
Those experiences shaped his view of what international students need from academic support.
“Our private tutoring helps students adapt to school transitions, relocations, and individual learning needs. We prioritise consistent academic growth over short-term solutions,” said Wartenberg.
LearnFire was founded around that approach, connecting international school students with experienced career educators through structured, personalised academic coaching.
The company will return to the Association of German International Schools (AGIS) Conference in Potsdam from 18–20 September, marking its second consecutive year at the conference.
Why are executive functioning and study skills important?
Executive functioning affects how students plan, organise and manage their learning. Planning, goal-setting, memory, flexible thinking and self-regulation influence how students start tasks, manage workloads and meet deadlines.
Study skills give students practical ways to approach academic work. These include revision planning, breaking down assignments, choosing effective study methods and preparing for exams.
“These are skills we can teach,” he said.
A student can understand the subject content and still struggle to organise an assignment, start a task or prepare for an examination. Explicit executive function and study skills teaching gives students practical strategies to overcome these challenges.
How LearnFire supports IB students
Executive function and study skills will be central to Wartenberg's contribution at AGIS, where he will co-facilitate “Evidence-based, Explicit Teaching of Executive Function and Study Skills for IB Students.”
Teaching the skills behind independent learning
The workshop will explore practical ways to explicitly teach executive function skills within the IB framework.
“When we explicitly teach executive function and study skills, we give IB students practical tools to manage their learning and become more independent,” said Wartenberg.
The session will focus on student autonomy, agency and engagement, with practical resources and strategies for teachers to use in the classroom.
Wartenberg brings more than 1,000 hours of coaching experience to this work, backed by more than 12 years of experience in international schools.
LearnFire's work across international curricula
LearnFire provides personalised academic coaching across IB, IGCSE, A-Level and other international curricula, with a focus on the study skills students need to manage their workload and prepare effectively for examinations.
For IB students, this includes IB study skills and IB exam preparation, from revision planning and managing deadlines to breaking down larger assignments and choosing effective study methods.
The same approach applies to IGCSE study skills and IGCSE exam preparation, with support customised to each student’s subjects, workload and stage of learning.
A global model for academic coaching
Wartenberg's experience across international schools shaped LearnFire's approach to academic coaching.
Having taught students from more than 60 countries and worked across different education systems, he saw the need for academic support that could adapt to different curricula and student circumstances.
LearnFire now supports families across Europe, UK, the Middle East, Asia and the United States.
The company provides one-on-one online, in-person and hybrid tutoring and academic coaching.
This model supports students who move between schools or countries, change curricula or need individual academic support.
LearnFire's vision is based on a simple principle: “Better education, better world.”
Its mission is to provide specialised academic coaching delivered by experienced career teachers, aligned with international curricula and focused on long-term student development.
The teachers behind LearnFire
LearnFire’s work is built around experienced career educators who understand the demands of international-school teaching and different curricula.
Chanté van Niekerk, LearnFire’s Academic Director, works closely with the academic and teaching teams to develop the approach used by LearnFire’s educators.
At AGIS, LearnFire will also meet with international-school teachers interested in adding Study Skills and Executive Function Coaching to their work.
Teachers with IB and other international curriculum experience are particularly relevant to this growing area of academic support.
LearnFire at AGIS 2026
Returning to AGIS for a second year gives LearnFire another opportunity to share practical approaches to teaching executive function and study skills with international-school educators.
For Wartenberg, that means sharing practical approaches with educators and continuing to develop LearnFire’s work in executive functioning and study skills.
The conference reflects the thinking behind LearnFire’s wider mission: “Better education, better world.”
AGIS 2026 workshop details
Event: 24th Annual AGIS Conference
Dates: 18–20 September 2026
Workshop:
Date: Friday, 18 September 2026
Time: 9:00 am–3:45 pm CEST
Location: Room 0.214, Kongresshotel Potsdam am Templiner See
Workshop Hosts: Dr Reece Wartenberg, Lise Fines and Geena George
Find out more about LearnFire’s academic coaching for international school students. www.learnfire.org.
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