Kennemer College is closing Kunskapsskolan
The Kennemer College Beroepsgericht in Heemskerk is selling the Swedish educational concept Kunskapsskolan. Teachers and students are dissatisfied with the portal replacing traditional methods.
At Kunskapsskolan (translated: knowledge school) Education (KED), students do not receive classroom lessons at one level, but can learn at their own pace and in different ways. Pupils largely determine their own schedule and learning goals. The originally Swedish educational concept is based on a lot of personal contact with teachers, who are given the role of coach at KED schools.
The portal is grumbled at various schools
In four years, about sixty schools have joined forces with Kunskapsskolan Nederland. Dutch KED schools purchase training courses, courses, a learning portal with 'learning resources' and a pupil tracking system from Kunskapsskolan Nederland - or elements from this offer. The portal has been grumbled about at various schools, the Education magazine wrote earlier in the article 'Made-to-measure or misfire'.
Dynamic
In that piece from November 2018, project manager Hanneke La Rivière of the Kennemer indicated that not all colleagues are enthusiastic about the portal that replaces traditional methods. But, she said: "Everything is there." The idea behind the portal is that various KED schools further complement it in order to achieve a varied and dynamic educational offer. “But when you teach full-time, you don't have time to further supplement that portal,” explains Theo Jaspers, director of the Kennemer Beroepsgericht. “Moreover, some teachers say: I am not a lesson developer. That is yet another branch of sport, which it is better to leave to the people who have learned before. ”
Goodbye
An internal tour of teachers showed that hardly anyone is satisfied with the portal. Jaspers: “The content does not match the quality we strive for. So it's time to say goodbye." The fact that the portal is 'dynamic' - in other words: needs to be further dressed - was known when the school switched to the KED method. “If you expect your teachers to develop lessons, you have to give them the time to do so. But we are not in a position to make time or money available for this.” Working with the portal also means a lot of screen time for students who have indicated that they do not like it. The pre-vocational secondary education students need an alternation between screen and book, according to another internal tour.
We are not going back to working in a bus setup like fifteen years ago
The collaboration between the Kennemer College Beroepsgericht and Kunskapsskolan Nederland will end as of next school year. The portal is left, sections can choose their own method again. In addition, the lessons that now take 20 minutes will soon count for 60 minutes, and the XNUMX-minute coaching that each student now receives from a teacher will be stripped down. The day closing will also stop and the day start will be reduced. “That does not mean that we are going back to working in a bus setup like fifteen years ago,” says director Jaspers.
Quality
The Kennemer Beroepsgericht was one of the first KED schools in the Netherlands. The former director of the school, Marleen Lemstra, now works for Kunskapsskolan Netherlands. School representatives spoke at successive annual Kunskapsskolan congresses. For the first time, the Kennemer Beroepsgericht is no longer included in the program of the 2019 KED conference.
The Kennemer College MAVO location also works with KED and is not stopping yet. Jaspers: "They do their own research into the quality of the portal."
