Innovative Educational Approaches

In this minor you will learn about the most important reform pedagogical principles and how they can be interpreted in practice. You can connect these reform pedagogical principles with contemporary renewal initiatives in education, like for example personalized learning or relevant themes such as gender and empowerment. You learn what the main principles are of the five most important reform pedagogical concepts: Montessori, Dalton, Freinet, Waldorf and Jenaplan education. But also less known concepts, such as Pizzigoni Education or Reggio Emilia. Students can differentiate between these main principles and consider them critically. Based on this knowledge you describe and justify your own vision of learning/education in a manifesto.

At the same time this phase of the minor is a starting point for a critical analysis of your own educational practice. You will be provided with tools, with which you can write an innovation plan for your own professional practice or internship (change management). This task will be supervised by experienced teachers. With the help of this supervisors, you look for a suitable internship at home or abroad, where  (in consultation with the host- or own school) you write the innovation plan.

The minor consist of three parts, in two phases.

The first phase of the minor will consist of lectures and workshops, and will include several formative assessments. This is a theoretical part, with a general introduction into reform pedagogical concepts.
In the second part you will be provided with tools, with which you can investigate and change educational practices.
In the last part, during the second phase, you will do an internship or go back to your own workplace, where you will write an innovation plan for the school in question. The first two parts will take 10 weeks. This second phase (the internship or own workspace) will also take 10 weeks.

The minor consist of three parts, in two phases.

The first phase of the minor will consist of lectures and workshops, and will include several formative assessments. This is a theoretical part, with a general introduction into reform pedagogical concepts.
In the second part you will be provided with tools, with which you can investigate and change educational practices.
In the last part, during the second phase, you will do an internship or go back to your own workplace, where you will write an innovation plan for the school in question. The first two parts will take 10 weeks. This second phase (the internship or own workspace) will also take 10 weeks.

Throughout the minor you will be supervised and supported in person or remotely using online collaboration tools.

After completion of the minor, the student is able to:  

1. Connect pedagogical (reform)movements to educational approaches, methods and practices in the classroom; 

1. Relate pedagogies and educational innovations of the 20th and 21st centuries (such as developmental, collaborative learning) to relevant movements in philosophy and psychology (such as behaviourism, social-constructivism);  

2. Relate national school systems of the specific countries to reform pedagogies and relevant educational themes in those countries;  

3. Develop, adjust and express their own vision on education and pedagogy, after reflecting on different educational approaches, pedagogical movements and practices, in confrontations with others;  

4. Design, implement and evaluate an educational innovation in a school, in a systematic and methodological way, usable and suitable for the context in the school; 

5. Reflect and elaborate on their learning process, and relate this to intercultural experiences and the innovation/implementation process in the school. 

The minor consist of three parts, in two phases.

The first phase of the minor will consist of lectures and workshops, and will include several formative assessments. This is a theoretical part, with a general introduction into reform pedagogical concepts.
In the second part you will be provided with tools, with which you can investigate and change educational practices.
In the last part, during the second phase, you will do an internship or go back to your own workplace, where you will write an innovation plan for the school in question. The first two parts will take 10 weeks. This second phase (the internship or own workspace) will also take 10 weeks.

The profile part is a presentation for teachers and students of the minor or for management or (a delegation) of the staff of the school. You have to present your vision on education in a comprehensible way to a professional audience by means of a poster presentation which is justified in a manifesto (15 ects). This is an individual test.

The second phase students implement an innovation plan for a primary school itself. It is the so-called professional product/the practical part (15 ects).

In most cases, this is a group effort, because most students will be doing an internship with one or two other students in the same school.
The group will write a report on the findings of the innovation and the research that was conducted, with which ultimately supports the innovation plan.

Students present the findings before a delegation from the internship school.