Renewed teaching assistant training
Less compulsory lessons, standing meeting sessions and weekly individual talks with each student. The Nijmegen MBO education Assistant and Pedagogical Employee has been working with a new educational concept since this school year.
Image: Rob Niemantsverdriet
At exactly half past eight it is busy in the hall near the coffee machine of the MBO course Teaching Assistant and Pedagogical Employee of Roc Nijmegen. A group of teachers and staff are standing at a whiteboard that has been divided into boxes with tape. Above the boxes are terms such as 'actions', 'goals', 'successes'. There are also smileys with a happy, neutral or sad face.
"How are you feeling today?" training coordinator Conny Haukes asks every employee. She counts the answers: eleven times happy and five times not happy. Teacher Maaike Schwering sighs: "I just got sick." When the subject of goals comes up, teacher Taeke Stol shouts: "Today I hope to speak to a student I haven't seen for a while."
New job
The 600 students and 55 teachers of the MBO training have been working in this new way since the beginning of the school year. The board session for teachers lasts 8 minutes and takes place twice a day: at 30:16 am and at 00:XNUMX pm. “It goes with peaks and troughs,” says coordinator Haukes. “Everyone suddenly has a completely new job. We are learning to be drowsy. ”
Starting and ending the day together is part of the new vision on education. The goal: to teach MBO students to work independently and in a solution-oriented way and to equip them with skills that are necessary to continue developing themselves throughout their lives. According to the teachers, when large classes are taught for hours on end, the development of these skilled people is insufficiently reflected. Now mentors have weekly conversations with their students. The students each work at their own level and receive a lot of feedback from learning coaches.
I had to get used to the rhythm of 8.30 am to 17.30 pm.
“In the first trimester, I had to get used to the rhythm of 8.30:17.30 a.m. to 21.00:XNUMX p.m.,” says learning coach Andy Saris, a teacher at the program for ten years. “I went to bed at XNUMX p.m., but now I'm used to it. I like it. I am much less concerned with keeping order.”
Teachers start their days with individual conversations with students that last fifteen minutes. Saris has such an individual meeting every week with each of his 21 students. At a quarter past nine he starts with a board session with his group, similar to the session with which he himself started the day.
About twenty students gather in a small classroom around the whiteboard. Again smileys are peated: four happy this time, thirteen neutral ones and five sad ones. Just like the three teachers, the students can also name their successes. "Passed a practical exam in the car", it sounds, and: "my niece was born tonight". Then the goals follow. Andy Saris asks each student: “So what exactly are you going to do today? Are you going to 3.3. finish up?" A student nods. Everything is noted on the whiteboard.
Learning Square
Then all students spread out with their laptops in the classrooms of one wing of the building. The doors are open, so that the idea of an open learning plaza is approached. All places are taken. “It's quite busy,” says Saris. "We would also like quiet areas."
I miss the lesson feeling. But it does make you more independent and creative.
Every day, the students work on their learning goals that they must achieve at the end of a trimester. Some make calculations behind the laptop. A group of three students cut and paste a tree on a large poster to explain what a 'growth mindset' is. That's the belief that you can learn almost anything if you make an effort and are willing to persevere when things go wrong, they explain.
Pupils can choose how they achieve their learning goals. Saris explains: “As a learning coach we always ask questions, we encourage students to find answers themselves and achieve their learning goals on their own. We give workshops and training courses for which they can register. Compulsory lessons are only available in the core subjects Dutch, English, arithmetic and citizenship. Students can also request lessons themselves. In addition to three days of school, they go on an internship for two days and immediately apply what they have learned. ”
Lesson feeling
It is too early to judge whether the new approach is a success. “The biggest job is to teach the students to learn in the new way,” says Saris. Lotte, first-year student teaching assistant, finds it difficult so far: “I come from a 'normal' MBO education and I miss the feeling of teaching. I find it difficult to ask questions. But I wouldn't want to go back either. You do become more independent and creative here. I already notice on my first internship at primary school that I can take over many tasks from the teacher. He is very happy with it. ”
I see earlier what a student can or cannot do and can coach directly
Saris sees that students “grow faster”. Fellow learning coach Mascha Garstenveld adds: “Thanks to the learning objectives and the coaching conversations, I see sooner what a student can or cannot do. I can immediately coach on this.” At a quarter to three the board with this morning's notes is ready again. Saris closes the day with another board session and checks whether the goals have been achieved. “Section 3.3 is finished,” confirms the student who had intended to do so in the morning. From four o'clock it is time again for the final board session of the team, followed by individual discussions with students. “I don't have to do anything at home tonight,” says Saris. “That's because I have to prepare fewer lessons and I'm mainly busy supervising the student. I now experience less work pressure."
This article appeared in the Education Magazine of February 2018.
