Roc van Amsterdam redesigns its own education
Three education teams from the Roc van Amsterdam dropped all rules. Accumulation is a thing of the past, the teachers often go on excursions and invest in their relationship with students.
Source: Fred van Diem
The four people at the table shine as they talk about the pioneering years they have had. They were close to the pilot from the start 'Education disrupted' involved. Jos Tuijn represents the class and is also a team manager; teacher Christa Schrier has just become training manager. Thea Zaremba is a training manager and, like Tuijn and Schrier, works at Mbo College Airport in Hoofddorp. Sander Dol is training manager at the Mbo College Zuidoost.
Three teams were allowed to drop all rules and start from zero. The only agreement was that they would adhere to the qualification file, which records what students should know and be able to do at the end of their training. Zaremba: “There was no additional funding and the examination was set. But now we are also talking about other ways of examining within the pilot. ”
Tuijn: “It was very special to brush everything aside and to look together as teachers what we wanted for our education. We also suddenly had more room to respond to the wishes of companies. It took some getting used to. I asked my director: When should I hand in this or that? Just watch, he said. I loved it."
The rule that fell first? The mandatory 1000 clock hours for the freshmen.
The directors of the Roc van Amsterdam were immediately enthusiastic about the proposal of its own staff to scrap rules. “They also saw that the workload was high and that the results for employee satisfaction could be better”, estimates Zaremba. Dol: “We already got one go before the inspectorate and the Ministry of Education agreed. ” Chairman of the board Edo de Jaeger came to inquire with interest what exactly they were going to do differently.
The rule that fell first? The compulsory 1000 clock hours (700 teaching hours and 300 hours of practical training) for the freshmen. Zaremba: “We noticed that students learned a lot more in practice. Our most popular courses also failed to meet those 700 hours; we already offered a lot of education in other than classroom forms. " Tuijn: “We were the first to let go of those housekeeping hours. And we also wanted students to learn outside the school building. We have divided the qualification file into themes and treat it in a way that appeals to our students. When we talk about the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, we will not let a speaker come, but we will go there. ” The students greatly appreciate learning outside the home.
Internships too short
The prescribed 300 hours of practical training per year were also problematic. Companies often want trainees to have more hours in. Dol: “You can create longer internships by concentrating internship hours of several years in fewer class years, but then students may not go on an internship at all in the first year. That's not a good idea. ” So that rule was also broken.
Furthermore, the teachers ran into rigid rules for the subject of English. Schrier: “Sometimes you have to take many central exams in a short period of time and often the most difficult exams come first. And students who come to us with a Cambridge English certificate cannot be exempted. That is almost impossible to explain. ”
The ROC must report to the Compulsory Education Office students who have been absent for sixteen hours or more in four weeks. Dol: “We prefer to look at what's going on. Maybe a student has financial problems and has to work for a day. We'd rather have them tell you that than call in sick. If we have a good picture of them, such rules are not necessary. ” Zaremba: “We would rather give support than make a report. For example by having them take a test at a different time. ”
Not all obstructive rules come from outside; some are in people's minds.
It is very satisfying to design your own teaching, but organizing this is a tough job, say the foursome. For example, if someone falls ill who would take care of an important part, you could just go without a program for a day. This happened once. Zaremba: “In the old system we would hide and try to get people to give extra lessons. Now there is no program for a day. That may be a vulnerable point in our new system, but I think it offers more cohesion. ”
Not all obstructive rules come from outside; some are in people's minds. Schrier: “Some colleagues mistakenly think that they should test four times a year. During the progress meeting, they find it difficult to make statements about students because they have not yet tested. But if you maintain a good relationship with your students, you can also know where they stand without tests. ”
Attitude and behavior
The teachers of the Mbo College Airport have developed a lot of teaching material together. They now pay even more attention to attitude and behavior; important elements in the profession of steward (ess). To measure the growth of students, Tuijns team developed a competence meter, for example.
There is now more talk with than about students.
The red sofa in his team's office is an important meeting point. Tuijn: “Over a cup of coffee you are soon talking about a student who is not doing well for a while. I now have a much clearer picture of my students, because I also hear how they function in other lessons. ”
There is now more talk with than about students. Zaremba: “We used to decide during a meeting that someone was not ready for an internship yet. This can result in a study delay of six months. Now we discuss that with the student himself. If you substantiate this well and can convince the student, you will get fewer complaints and less demanding parents. ”
According to Tuijn, the ownership of teachers and students has grown 'enormously'. “We often ask students what and how they would like to learn, and then they come up with things we are already working on. We apparently have a good idea of how we can address them. ” Occasionally the teachers miss out. For example, they thought that hairdressing students could teach their students how to take care of their hair. The prospective stewards and flight attendants thought that was an exaggeration.
