The classroom as an escape room
Escape the workload as quickly as possible. That is the purpose of the team outing that teachers Pelle van den Berg and Nina Faneker devised. They organize escape rooms in schools.
Image: Angeliek de Jonge
A pub quiz through Utrecht, climbing in a climbing forest or ranking the teachers. The staff outings that Pelle van den Berg and Nina Faneker organized for the team of the Montessori School Arcade in Utrecht were invariably a success. “We always try to make assignments as personal as possible,” explains Nina. Pelle: “For the pub quiz, for example, we had children of colleagues sing a song and the question is then whose child you hear. Another question was whose bedroom is in the picture. ”
Women's prison
Last year they wanted to go to one with the team escape room: An activity where you have to leave a room within an hour by solving puzzles and riddles. “This is how you can escape from the women's prison in Utrecht, which is great fun,” says Nina. Pelle: “But with 35 people, we thought an existing escape room was not that suitable. You are mainly working separately. ” Nina: “So we came up with just one ourselves. We both like games and riddles, so that suits us. ”
Beer coasters
The teachers who also form a couple 'in real life' enjoyed the preparation. “It was a fun and long thinking process,” says Nina. “We have filled a lot of beer coasters in the pub with ideas about how we can tackle this. Because we know the school well and work in education ourselves, we can really make it personal. ”
The assignments ensure that people have a conversation about their own share in the workload
The theme, escaping the workload, soon emerged. In the assignments they incorporated subjects such as 'space in rules', overtime, money, privacy and lice. Pelle: “Many things are recognizable, which is nice. Moreover, the assignments ensure that people have a conversation about their own share in the workload they experience. We think this is important because many people do not know what the government makes mandatory and what a choice of the school is. ”
They set up four rooms as an escape room and divided the team into four. Nina: “It was such a success, colleagues liked it so much that they said afterwards that we should do more with it.” Pelle: "Shortly afterwards, we were allowed to perform it at a school run by a former colleague and that was also successful."
Teambuilding
After six months of drinks, brainstorming, testing and further elaboration, they registered with the Chamber of Commerce last October and the website went live. More and more schools now know where to find them. “The strength is that the activity is personal and current and it happens in the school itself,” says Pelle.
“We need about an hour to set up the classrooms and then the team can start. They are given an hour and because they really have to work together to find a solution, it is also good for team building. But above all, it's about fun. A team outing is of course mainly intended to have a good time together. ”
Fanatic
The door of the room is therefore not really locked. “That is not possible in connection with fire safety, and secretly many teachers like that so much,” says Nina. “Different teams compete simultaneously in separate classrooms. That makes them want to get out first, that's an extra layer in this game. The nice thing is that you discover new things about each other. We often get hilarious responses. ”
Pelle: “The true nature emerges. Some are super fanatical. ” Nina: “Once teams even broke stuff to get to the code. We now always say: 'if it doesn't open, it won't open'. Sometimes it is as if we are working with children, ”she says with a laugh.
School principal
It remains to be seen how the future unfolds, but the escape room is a little bit ahead. “Education is really my profession, I am now training to become a school leader”, says Pelle, who now works as a teacher at the new Montessori school Lef in Utrecht-Overvecht. "It is super fun to do this together", says Nina, "I really enjoy the combination with two days of teaching and other activities and I don't want to miss it."
