Preface

Discovering where the talent of a student lies is extremely important in education. But where do students truly get the chance to discover what they really want to do? How many schools still offer the time and space to make mistakes? Mijn School gave me the opportunity to work on myself. So I could first explore: who am I really and what do I find important? Then I could see what I could use my talent for. This gave me the energy and motivation to learn with fun. However, schools often don’t go outside the set framework. The learning path for the student is already determined, even though it has a much more positive effect when a student can create his own learning path. Instead of receiving a book, the student creates his own book. ‘That’s not possible with us!’ is a familiar statement when you want to do something ‘different’ in education. But think about how incredibly large the world is and how it offers endless possibilities. Why then choose a fixed curriculum? It’s the job of the school and its teachers to support and stimulate the student in finding his talents. Offer opportunities. Let students make mistakes, because no matter how cheesy, you learn from making mistakes. I made 2,939 mistakes before I realised: oh that’s how it works! The fact that it is possible on Mijn School helped me enormously in finding my way. Learning with fun provided me with energy and led me to become a teacher myself. I found my talent. And I wish that for all students. So dear intermediate vocational education schools, show everyone it’s also possible at your school! – Emma Bosman

Emma is a former student of Mijn School. She obtained her intermediate vocational education diploma SCW level 4 and currently studies at ArtEZ to become an art and design teacher

The school Mijn School, part of the Graafschap College, Doetinchem

PROGRAMMES Welfare work (level 2), Community educational and cultural work (level 4)

VISIE Education is for everyone. If the form of teaching someone something doesn’t fit, the school has to adjust to the needs of the student.

NUMBER OF STUDENTS 200 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 13 fteSince 2010

How do you prevent adolescents from dropping out?

Everyone creates his own school

Mijn School in Doetinchem gives early school-leavers and adolescents who are stuck in regular education the opportunity to follow an intermediate vocational education in their own way. The diploma is the same, but the road to it differs. ‘We want to treat and educate students in a way they feel in the right place again in society.’

Why was Mijn School founded?Hanno Ambaum, senior teacher and developer of the programme:“When adolescents drop out of education, something is wrong with the education. Everyone wants to learn and grow, but not everyone fits properly into the regular system. In the year 2010/2011, the school year we started, the country saw 40,000 early school leavers. You could either say: these adolescents don’t fit into the education, they have a problem. You could also approach it in a positive way: apparently there’s a large group of potential workers who need a different type of education, and have to be approached with differently. Mijn School offers that alternative.”

But the reasons these adolescents dropped out don’t just suddenly disappear when they go to you?Hanno: “Don’t put the school in the centre, but the student. In order to give them proper guidance you have to map all aspects together. What are then the success factors? And which issues have an obstructing effect? This could for instance be a psychological problem or a difficult domestic situation. Then we see how we can organise the education in a way to enable the student to better find his way. The adaptability shouldn’t merely come from the adolescent, but also from the environment.”

Monique Spekking, senior teacher and developer of the project agency: “We talk with the student about what motivates or inspires him: what do you want to achieve? Based on this we examine the already present abilities and see what he still wants to learn. We give students the time they need to take their steps. We consistently assess with the student, the team and involved partners whether anyone is in motion. For some people it’s already a big deal to be here on time in the morning. Even if someone only stays here for an hour in the beginning, it’s still an achievement. By seeing and identifying these little steps, a larger forward motion is automatically created. During this initial stage it’s very important to motivate these adolescents by rewarding every step forward with compliments. You can reap the benefits from this: the students flourish, they hold their heads up high and start to look forward again.”

So, why is this possible on Mijn School?Hanno: “We support the student to make his own decisions and to learn what he needs to achieve his goal. The school goes along with this. Team members don’t have to be social workers, but they doe have to have experience with guiding complicated groups. It’s important they don’t want to solve everything themselves, because the starting point is that the student has control and maintains control over his own process. There is literally not a single phone call with an authority – probation, police, addiction care, etc. – without the student’s presence. We constantly work on identifying who is part of the student’s network of involvement in problems. We coordinate this network and therefore stand in close contact

with the authorities. We are critical where needed. We also help the student to regain control over these areas. Social workers are actually a type of contractors who help you rebuild your life, but it is and stays your life. And not every social worker does things that help a student move forward. It is then good to know that an organisation such as the Graafschap College will have you back to – if needed – exert pressure, to make the student really be heard.”

You let your students create an ‘own school’. How does that work?Monique: “This is our motto: ‘do you have an idea? Call it and work on it.’ There are fixed times during which the students can pitch ideas on stage to the entire school. Together with the student we see how the project can best be realised and determine what support is needed. Projects can be carried out inside or outside the school. This takes place through the project agency where we provide students with various possibilities. These are always projects with a social relevance and a connection to the labour market. And they suit the profession they are being educated in.”

You call it bringing the world into the school.Hanno: “Exactly. The goal of Mijn School is to train students in such a way they feel comfortable in society again. More and more companies, institutions and voluntary organisations see the abundance of talents and enthusiasm here. They provide guest lectures, organise field trips and come up with practical assignments. Mijn School is furthermore a place for companies and institutions to network and come up with new ideas.”

If adolescents drop out of school, the cause of this lies in the education

How do you make sure the students learn the right things?Monique: “The road to the diploma differs from mainstream programmes, but each student has to obtain the same core tasks within his study, consisting of work processes. We cut it up by letting students take part in different projects inside the school or outside school with external partners. We are able to do this because our project agency is an acknowledged training company. You don’t have to learn everything at one location. It’s possible to gain a part of your experience at a certain company or institution and gain another part at a school project or welfare organisation. For the programme Welfare Work, students for instance have to prepare group activities, conduct research, coordinate or recruit volunteers. The activities are always a means to achieve a goal. A student who bakes cookies in the park with children encounters several work processes. He has to write a plan, prepare the activity and carry out the guidance on the actual day. The students track their progress and registration of hours in their portfolio through documents. In this way, we can see which work processes they already worked on, and which as still missing. They have to meet the same requirements as regular programmes. The road to the diploma is just more varied and connects better to the student’s passion.”

Can the companies and institutions also work with this?Monique: “Especially in the beginning our students aren’t always as reliable because of their personal circumstances; you for instance don’t know if they will show up and if they will be on time. These students will mainly work in projects, often for a shorter duration. We keep checking to see if it will be continued, which is done in consultation. The practice supervisor from the school tracks the progress and is closely involved in this and takes care of the guidance in cooperation with the organisation. It is important to both the student as the organisations and companies that what we do is successful. After students gained experience

during projects and they show a growth in personal development, they are ready for a longer internship or a more complex project.”

Hanno: “We have built a good reputation over the past years: we consistently have short lines with companies. They trust us. To manage the expectations even better, we write down in detail what is supplied and demanded. Staying consistent and not weakening is the most difficult part, but regular contact keeps both parties on the right track.”

In addition to the projects, you have lessons in English, Dutch, arithmetic and citizenship. How did you design this?Monique: “There are lessons five days a week, from 9am to 330pm. The student has a PRS, Personal Result-oriented Support. Each student develops his timetable with the PRS. Together we look at which way of learning works best for someone. Selfstudy is legally allowed, as long as the lessons are given and the teacher is available to the students.”

Can this group of students handle all that freedom and responsibility?Hanno: “We always ask our students to explain and motivate our choices. And we have conversations with them to find out how it’s going. So each student has his own PRS they discuss their progress and plans with. The only thing is: they don’t have to do it. You can always start a conversation with your PRS. One student feels this need once every two weeks, the other needs 5 minutes every day. Every week has a set moment with your basic group and PRS to discuss how things are going together. Informing each other and involving others in your development is an important part of the work methods. You also help each other. It’s important to our students that they have regularity and rhythm. Holidays are an unwelcome interruption in this, because the structure is removed, and students often don’t have a stable social network to fall back on. We notice we have to do repair work after the holidays. Once back in the school rhythm, a lot happens, sometimes causing them to fall back into old patterns. We would love to work with a continuous programme without fixed holidays. This is hard to organise within the current educational structure, but this is something we want to grow towards.”

How do you make the groups?Hanno: “Students are in basic groups. By mixing the levels, the experienced worker can help the inexperienced one, just like in professional practice. And a fresh view from the newcomer can be very valuable. A student who just enters shouldn’t think: I’ve only been at school for a couple of weeks, I have nothing to contribute yet. You have everything to contribute! Just because we’ve been around longer, we have blind spots. Tell us what opportunities you see, what you think can be done better.”

You start each Tuesday at 10am with the pitches. What are those exactly?Hanno: “Students tell each other about their projects during their pitches. They inspire each other. But they also seek connection and help. Maybe someone is listening who has a great solution to your problem, or someone would love to join your project. A big sense of involvement is created when students know what the other students are working on. Today, Lianne and Stacey talked about their project on adolescents, sexual expressions and social media, they carry out in cooperation with cultural centre De Gruitpoort. And Iris and Yoerie organise a day to recruit new volunteers for the programme. Large and small miracles happen every day at this school.”

It doesn’t look like an ordinary school here. What do you want the image to be?

Hanno: “This school is of the students and for the students. They build it themselves. The space is open and you can see really well what everyone is working on. nothing is new, we mainly work with used materials. Plants grow in car tires on the wall here. Students are working on desks or follow a quick lesson in between. Whoever wants to work out can let loose in the boxing area. I brought in an old Saviem-bus we will convert into a good truck. In this way, the students can experience the possibilities and see what they can build themselves.”

Monique: “I sometimes look at people who come here for the first time. You can actually see change happening right in front of you. A tension is relieved, they feel that it’s good. It might seem like something small, but the atmosphere is very important. You see how everyone flourishes because of it. It’s important that students feel at home here at Mijn School and know they are welcome here.”

Hanno: “A good atmosphere is the basis, especially when it’s about a target group of students who don’t really feel like coming to school. Students have to feel safe here to really try things. If someone we don’t know walks in, we first greet the person, shake his hand and introduce ourselves. Nobody feels lost with us in the building. We work on that together.”

What is the role of the teacher?Hanno: “Equality is an important foundation of Mijn School. We do it all together, whether you are the principal, teacher, student or volunteer. This means that teachers have to be open to criticism and ideas of students. The teacher is the guide of the learning process. That doesn’t mean he also has to be in front of the call at all times: he can use guest lecturers or digital education means. We offer custom materials for every student and see what really suits their learning process: which projects, which means of learning and which form of guidance.”

How do you find suitable teachers for this programme?Hanno: “By letting students participate in the selection committee. Why not? It’s about their school and their lessons. We discuss the requirements a teacher has to meet together according to a matrix I developed. The students and teachers select the letters and we invite the candidates to participate for a part of the day, and undergo two interviews. That’s how you get a good first impression. We also ask the other students how they experienced the applicant. Someone can be a good teacher, but has no fit with the work methods of Mijn School. Our team has to be excellent. If someone lacks a quality, it is compensated by someone else. It’s important that team members excel in both self-awareness and professional knowledge, as guiding students, working in projects and cooperating. These criteria are part of an extensive quality system: there’s a monthly feedback afternoon during which the team, as a group and individually, receives feedback from the students. Everyone receives points to improve. Some teachers discuss their own learning goals with their students and ask for feedback. We recently found that the use of our own network didn’t take off. We now made more time and room for that.”

Do teachers have time for that intensive individual guidance?Hanno: “A school should work as a shop: we are there for the customers, the students. Before you know it you’re very busy with bureaucratic processes: organise this, write out that. When people are very busy, they tend to retreat to their own little island and start working. You can see how students react to that; they don’t get the attention and guidance they need, resulting in a slower or even stagnating process. Whenever I see something like this happen I take action

and gather everyone. At a moment like this we have to clear up what the priorities are and which things can wait.”

Do you sometimes have to tell yourself to slow down?Hanno: “Definitely. My mailbox is exploding. I’m a cc in almost every email that’s being sent around here. I want that though. I want to stay in touch with what people are doing and I want to be able to give advice. But there is however a need for a manager who can be a translator between Mijn School and the larger ROC (Regional Education Centre). I would like to be busy teaching, carrying out the vision and the decisions that arise from it, but I currently also have to take on the management aspect. I don’t want to do that. It’s important that the processes are properly supported and that the team becomes more independent in carrying out their tasks. This is what we stand for together right now. For me it’s important to take a step back and let the team and the manager and the students carry and further develop the concept together.”

How is the cooperation with the other programmes of the Graafschap College?Hanno: “The relationship with the regular programmes Welfare Work and Community educational and cultural work is fine. An internal audit and an external study gave the following point of improvement: develop a mix of regular and other education. Unfortunately we don’t always manage to connect with the other teams from the ROC yet. It’s often not even the organisational structure that works as an obstructing factor; it’s often the people who are to afraid to change. If the Graafschap College wants to embrace what Mijn School does more broadly, they have to look at their own work methods and that’s sometimes frightening. A student here can for instance decide whether he wants to be taught by you or not. The traditional assumption is that the teacher knows what the student needs. We assume that the teacher should know what’s needed to obtain your diploma, but that the student knows in which way he wants to learn.”

Monique: “We are put under a magnifying glass, because we deviate from the norm. It’s understandable, but not always easy. We have students who got stuck in the regular intermediate vocational education because they couldn’t function in a system that doesn’t suit them. It’s our challenge to alter the system and the way a student is approached. This raises questions. And when people then come over, it seems so relaxed and optional to the students, but still everything happens like it should. We have explain over and over again that we work according to a clear structure, but just do things differently.”

How do you deal with this?Hanno: “I sometimes have to steer the way the team looks at our role a bit. It’s not ‘us against the world’. We have to do it together. If you want to loudly convey a message, but nobody hears you shout, it’s no use. We don’t say: change the entire education system. We offer a different alternative. We broaden the range of education, and that’s a good thing for everyone.”

What is the main criticism Mijn School receives?Hanno: “That it’s too easy for students to obtain their diploma. But at our school, students are motivated and enthusiastic because we choose an attractive, practical programme with freedom of choice and tailored guidance. They also communicate with the outside world that it’s more fun and easier at our school. At the end of the programme, students always tell us that this way of working unconsciously is much more confronting. The open dialogue and working based on the things you want to achieve also show the obstructions more strongly.

And it eventually turns out the largest obstruction is inside yourself, and you also have to confront that at Mijn School. That is a tough process for our students. The adolescents however don’t experience this as insurmountable because of the positive approach and the personal guidance. We just have to often explain to them that the diploma is not a gift here.”

Is there competition?Hanno: “Our target group used to mainly consist of early school leavers. Now we experience that Mijn School attracts other students of the ROC. If students choose our programme because the concept suits them better, great. I don’t like it when students prefer to go to Mijn School because they like the atmosphere, but a more traditional approach suits them better. We also talk about this with students. They generally are very able to indicate their needs. They often find security, the small scale and personal involvement very important. That great atmosphere and the way of dealing with each other can be created anywhere. It’s a matter of training and having the courage to address each other. Eighty percent of the change is the attitude of the teacher, which can be developed.”

What role does IT play on Mijn School?Hanno: “IT should always be serving. ‘iPad education’ has no added value if there’s no educational concept underneath it. An iPad replacing the book only has added value for the environment. The strenght of our concept lies in the fact that there are multiple flavours. Multiple ways of guidance and multiple educational means. Does someone work better from a book or with pen and paper? Great. Can someone benefit a lot from adaptive, digital programmes? Also great. We use different programmes, such as Studiemeter, Deviant, etc. It might take more time to arrange all of that, but it will eventually cost less money to shape things this way, because it enables students to choose the type or work method that suits them best. It’s therefore even more effective.”

What else do you want to use IT for?Hanno: “Recording something in a portfolio is actually a translation of reality. It is a very linguistic activity. The power of using IT is that you can let go of the linguistic aspect. It would be much better if you can directly show what you’ve learned by placing videos of it in an online portfolio. Also other video material, audio fragments and websites could be part of this. In this way you really use the benefits IT has to offer. I would also love to start an app in which each student can draw up his schedule for that week. And that you can see your study progress in that same app, and that you can make choices on whether or not to start a project or follow a lesson. It will give the teacher or PRS and the student a better insight and overview.”

Are you satisfied with the results so far?Hanno: “The internal audit and the external study provided a proper insight into where our strengths lie and confirmed that we add value to education. We meet all requirements of the Vocational Training Learning Path. Our exam portfolio and our assessments are the same as those of regular programmes. I would like the next step to be to invite the Inspectorate to see together how we can solve a number of bottlenecks. A large percentage of the students who enter the programmes also obtain their diploma, re-enrolls in a regular programme, finds the right support or starts working. That is a great result, especially when you consider these adolescents would’ve otherwise dropped out of the education system. The alternative is always: nothing.”

Monique: “We strongly focus on outflow. It’s about adolescents finding a place in society. They possess a wide professional and social network after their study because of us bringing them into contact with a profession and also professional life and social projects through the internships and projects.”

What other plans do you have with Mijn School?Hanno: “It can always be more flexible. What to do with the holiday system for instance? Shouldn’t getting your diploma be possible all year around? The same applies to examination. I want to eventually see that passing an exam is equal to the number of study hours is represents. The student can fully determine the road towards that test, in line with the programme.”

Is this concept going to spread across the country?Hanno: “I hope so. Our programme can’t grow as much, even though there is a high demand. There are at least 800 dropouts who would suit this type of education if we had the capacity. I envision the system of cell division. Small teams split up and start a new practice. Keep it small, start over and grow. And all of that of course from the same concept and the same vision. We could for instance organise training days where groups van inspire and help each other. The idea of small, self-steering teams on flexible locations could rapidly expand. The Executive Board wants to eventually offer a Mijn School variant on for all intermediate vocational programmes. That would be wonderful.”

What’s your golden tip?Hanno: “Every human wants to learn and grow. The only thing education has to do is to make sure it doesn’t obstruct students in their growth. See what suits a student, what motivates him. We have to stop seeing early school leave as a problem and start seeing it as a chance to approach things differently.”

A school should be like a shop: Open

WE’RE HERE FOR THE customers, THE STUDENTS

The employeesHANNO AMBAUM (45) SENIOR TEACHER AND DEVELOPER OF THE PROGRAMME“I believe that everyone learns by themselves, as an innate feature, and that motivation isn’t a goal, but a benchmark to see whether I’m doing a good job as a teacher. I see many talented people around me that don’t blossom for a variety of reasons. It’s my drive to let them discover their talents and develop them in a way that suits them. Every day I enjoy the moment a student discovers how special he is and what he’s capable of. You see them get wings and rise above themselves. It makes me proud and I’m touched. It’s a challenge for me to develop education that fits like a tailored suit. It fits perfectly, it’s comfortable, you can move around well and it makes you look your best!”

MONIQUE SPEKKING (49) SENIOR TEACHER AND DEVELOPER OF THE PROJECT AGENCY “I want to provide adolescents who get stuck in the regular system, for whatever reason, with a chance to develop their talents or let them discover what they want to do. That’s why I want to offer tailored work and work based on the needs of a student – and not from the pattern of rules. Ideally I want to help as many students obtain their diploma, as reward for the thing they worked so hard on – by trial and error. The fact that I can see and feel what getting their diploma means to them is what I do it for!”

If adolescents drop out of school, it’s because of the education

Students should feel safe here to really try different things

HOW DOES MIJN SCHOOL WORK?Project-based education with intensive personal guidance. Students tell everyone of Mijn School what projects they’re working on during the pitches. Or what ideas they have. Students are being taught five days a week from 9am to 330pm. Students decide in consultation which classes they attend. The students are divided into basic groups. They take place in project inside and outside the school they can use to check off work processes in their portfolio. Mijn School’s project agency is a recognised training agency, so students don’t have to carry out their internship at one place. They learn through different projects instead. The exam takes place at a acknowledged internship company. The exam portfolio and the examination are the same as in regular intermediate vocational education programmes. Students build their own school. Everyone works together on the design and decoration of the programme; this is continuously being developed. We keep looking at what suits a student best with regard to learning: self-study, digital means of learning or learning with pen and paper?

Large and small miracles happen on this school every day

It’s not us against the worldWe have to do it together

This is our motto: ‘Do you have an idea? Call it and work on it.’ The student creates his own school

The students

HISHAM EL DOERI (29) STUDENT SOCIAL CULTURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Every person has to look at themselves and think: what kind of plant am I? What kind of food do I need?

“Before I obtain my diploma I want to start my own company. It’s called Culina Hortus, which is Latin for vegetable garden. My company stands for – together – learning – growing. I want to bring younger people, elderly people and people who are removed from the labour market together in the construction of a vegetable garden in their own neighbourhood. I’ve attended quite a number of ROCs. They wanted to put me into systems. I used every excuse imaginable to not go to school. When I ran out I quit my study. School has always been a punishment for me. Doing things you don’t want to do for eight hours a day. That breaks you down. And the real life on the streets doesn’t start until after school. You can imagine what that’s like: bad influences, etc. When I enrolled here, everything was really different. It instantly clicked. On the first day, Hanno wanted to explain to me what the school is all about. I said: ‘Stop talking, I get it. This is my school.’”

SIMONE HAANSTRA (23) STUDENT WELFARE WORK The best teacher is also a student.

“I was bullied a lot in grade school and I have a difficult time there. Vmbo was too easy for me. I then started social care work (SPW) but I got stuck: it was too impersonal. I didn’t feel completely at home among the other students at Recreation. The support I got in other programmes was so broad and so meaningless. I felt lost. I stopped my study and started working at McDonald’s. A few years after I got pregnant and was physically and mentally abused by the father of my child. I left him during the first year at this school. I finally felt like it was going to be alright. Of course you have to get used to everything when you come here for the first time. But I got the feeling of warmth and a home here after a few days already. Everyone is personally interested in you, because you are part of a family with everyone. They love you as a person and that makes the difference to me. I could’ve gotten my Level 2 diploma last year already, but I wanted to stay. I asked Hanno as a joke: ‘Do you need a secretary?’ Now I work on developing and running the project agency and I’m working on passing programme parts of Level 4 at the same time. I’m here on fixed days during the week, which works out great with my life with my daughter.”

TIPS OF MIJN SCHOOL

If you want to innovate, make sure you first ask your students what can be changed and improved, and immediately take action. Innovation doesn’t take place on paper, but in the field. Don’t waste time with paper tigers, but get to work and develop the concept as you go. Make sure you have broad support from all levels, from the student to the Board. Let people experience what you do, find the people that can and are willing to improve this experience. Be effective. Change the things that don’t work, keep the things that do. Determine base don a number of basic values where you want to be in five years. This is your benchmark to fall back on during the issues of the day. Let go of the traditional organisational framework, only use the hierarchy in a functional way and let the students have a significant influence on the education. Involve your network in the developments and let them be your sounding board. Embrace new initiatives. Don’t be rigid in your concept.

That good atmosphere should be applied everywhere. You don’t need a new form of education for that.

EDUCATION IS JUST PREVENTING OBSTRUCTING PEOPLE IN THEIR GROWTH

Cahpter 9

CONCLUSION

You can(’t) do that here!

What can we learn from these schools?

You CAN do this here!

The most important lesson from this book is: make the student the centre and create the school organisation that makes this possible. This chapter analysed how the described school give shape to this change and what obstacles they encountered. Finally we draw some conclusions.

What are the most important reasons for change? The changes along the curriculum spider webObstacles and solutionsThe role of ITConclusion

- VISION

• Optimal development of talent• Succesful job preparation, personal development and citizenship• A personal route towards the dream

Learning contentWhat do they learn?

Connecting practice to theoryPractice before theoryLearning routes provide choices for the question at the timeCore tasks divided into learning units or projectsCourse catalogue allows deepening and broadening

Learning activitiesHow do they learn?

Pitches to start own projectsAcquired assignments from companiesCore tasks divided into learning units (4C/ID)Workshops instead of classes‘Just in time’ instruction on the workfloorEnglish assignmentsLessons abroad

Teacher rolesWhat is the role of the teacher in their learning?

Guidance is everythingProfessional teacher/specialistAcademic advisorPartner in the learning processDeveloperMember of the network

Sources and materialsWhat do they learn with?

School is a centre of knowledge and library of sourcesThe workfloor is the main sourceEducation catalogue is 24/7 and continuously being developedVideos, knowledge clips, video lessons

Group formationWho do they learn with?

With each other, mixed school years/learning directionsAs buddiesAs experts to each otherWith teachers and coachesWith businesses

Master-apprenticeWith HBO studentsWith parentsIn networks/communities

Learning environmentWhere do they learn?

On the workfloorAbroadIn a project environmentIn self-designed learning workshopsOutside the school buildingNot bound to a single location (in the cloud & 24/7)

TimeWhen do they learn?

In phasesFlexible timetableContinuous lines without school year systemChoice: following timetable or self studyShort introductory lessonsIn parts of the day 24/7

ExaminationHow is their learning assessed?

Portfolio with work, evaluations, feedbackProof of competence, flexible completion

Learning goalsWhat are they learning towards?

Raise the bar, so intermediate vocational education students can achieve moreBecome an self-operating member of a network societyLearn to work in a co creation with other disciplinesLearn to function with attention to sustainability

WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT REASONS TO CHANGE?

The eight schools in the previous chapters indicate the following as the main reason for change: connecting to different educational needs – and thereby preventing early school leave. Connecting to changing professional and rapid technical developments. Providing students with opportunities targeted at sustainability. Making the student more popular on the international market. Optimally motivating the student. Optimally developing the student’s talents. Closing the gap between education and business. Just like in the book ‘Scholen om van te leren’ about primary and secondary education, we provide an overview of the way the schools that are discussed use to realise their ambitions. Using the curricular spider web by SLO (Van den Akker, 2003) the most important emphases become apparent. Ten building blocks form a model for the composition of student-oriented education. The image of the web also indicates the interdependent relationship. If you pull on one side, it affects the other parts of the web. It shows that schools can’t just change something about one of the parts while ignoring the other parts. This would break the web.

1: Vision – What are they learning for?We see variations of the following visions among the eight schools: Making sure the students can optimally develop their talents, aimed at successful preparation for their job, personal development and active citizenship. As a principal words it: “In education the question always is: which steps do you have to take to become a good person and be able to do good work?” Another principal states: “Our starting point is always: what is your dream? We offer students a personal route towards that dream.” The student-oriented approach is strongly developed in all schools. This leads to the special approaches of the other building blocks.

2: Learning goals – What are they learning towards?These eight schools naturally don’t have different learning goals than the ROCs we don’t describe here. They do however set the bar high, because they feel the regular approach is lacking. They all focus their efforts on letting the student progress further than before. A potential dropout before? Now a diploma. First only an MBO-diploma? Now an English professional diploma, plus a Cambridge certificate. So much is said and written about internationalisation and globalisation, but not nearly all MBO-programmes offer students the option to achieve more than they thought possible themselves. The Netherlands has eleven ROCs with International Business Studies as a programme. When looking at the way in which IBS-Roosendaal gives vmbo-students the opportunity to distinguish themselves with an MBO-4 qualification, an internationally renowned BTEC and Cambridge diploma, it is extremely impressive. It’s of course also about the optimal development of talents, learning to work in co creation with other disciplines and learning to function with an attention to sustainability. And it’s essential that students develop their identity to become an independently operating member of the network society.

3: Learning content – What do they learn?Intermediate vocational education is about different levels of vocational aspects that are described in knowledge aspects, skills and attitudes. These are found in the qualification files that are looked at carefully with the Qualification Review. The most important findings from our talks is that all eight schools mainly want to deal with the learning content in a more flexible way.

Realistic education by not separating practice and theory but actually connecting them.

In order to be able to flexibly use the learning content, it should be better described. This way, the need for a good, elaborate education catalogue that forms the basis of the education logistic arises. Landstede and Rijn IJssel even started their change processes with this. They realise that the true development of the students’ talents is opposite to offering a linear programme that’s available to everyone in fixed time blocks. A new design of the curriculum in accurately described learning units leads to a course catalogue everyone can create their own learning path with. Using intensive coaching, the student can always make choices that suit the questions at that time in these learning paths, or landscapes. This puts the reaction ‘sorry, we won’t discuss this until next year’ in the past and you can truly steer towards ‘just in time’ education.

4: Learning activities – How do they learn?We see different approaches with the aim to connect theory and practice in a smart way. Terms we often come across: - ‘just in time’ instruction: instruction given at the moment a student needs it in practice. This is common practice at the Friesland College. – Project education with real assignments from companies, which is the case at for instance AC Duurzaam and SintLucas. – The 4C/ID-model (Van Merriënboer et al.). This didactic model for ‘instructional design’ (see below) integrates professional aspects in theoretical assignments. The idea behind it is that you don’t confront your students with fragmented pieces of course materials, but that you let them work on complete tasks. The schools want to let students understand why certain knowledge is necessary and make sure students find themselves in situations they really need to chase that knowledge, because they can’t progress without it. Knowledge, skills and attitudes are combined in large assignments. These assignments are included in learning units (for instance Rijn IJssel, Landstede) and in the course catalogue. All programmes thereby work on the development of a large collection of assignments the student can retrieve from the learning environment when needed. Theree are however differences in the steering of the learning activities. At Mijn School it is often the student who coins an idea by means of a pitch, after which the group helps to work it out. At Landstede, Johan Cruyff College and Rijn IJssel they work towards stocks of learning units the student or the school can use to move around. Programming from the programme itself also exists. This however occurs less and less in annually scheduled classes. These turn out to be not flexible enough for the desired educational activities. Assignments and workshops take over from these more and more.

5: Teacher roles – What is the role of the teacher in their learning?It’s a big task for a teacher to learn how to work with the new learning activities. Still, we see a great professionalisation. Intensively guiding the student has the top priority. The main roles we can distinguish are academic advisor, field expert and education developer. The three roles are present in all combinations and in a variety of other names. We see the guide from business life come to school (AC Duurzaam) and we see the teacher teach general courses in the organisation (Friesland College). All borders are crossed to get to new types of vocational education. The instructor is also back: a special role on the workfloor with individual guidance for a student, which is the case at for instance the Friesland College. The great thing is that the teachers at most schools are learning intensively themselves. The teacher learns just as much as the student during assignments from companies. The interviewees all mention the continuous discovery of company life from within as a major advantage and that they stay better up to date on important developments in their field than ever before. In addition, the attention to personal guidance at Mijn School and the Johan Cruyff College (JCC) offers an

appropriate alternative to a group of students who would otherwise not obtain a degree or diploma. They first ask the student: who are you and what can we do for you? They ensure there is a network of guidance, teachers in the role of coaches and experts, and people from the industry. The JCC also uses HBO students who give the students the feeling they are being seen and heard.

6: Sources and materials – What do they learn with?It is striking how far these schools are in building a stockpile of sources and learning materials. For instance, the Johan Cruyff College makes the recorded lessons and self-produced knowledge clips available to students on training camp, anywhere in the world. The course catalogue is also becoming more prominent in the other schools. The school is both a knowledge centre and a resources bank. A logical new function for the school, since students literally scatter all over the world and there is increasingly less location-based teaching time. At Friesland College, FC-Sprint² is home to an enormous collection of sources. This training company of students searches the internet for useful instruction videos and alike. Both students and teachers make use of these. You can also give an assignment to FC-Sprint². IT clearly plays a major role in making all these sources and materials available. It’s so natural that it’s barely spoken about. Each student has his own device and has access to a specially designed course catalogue.

7: Group formation – Who do they learn with?The age of the classroom with a teacher in front lies largely in the past at these schools. It’s mostly about cooperating, learning to make use of each other’s expertise of being each other’s buddy and brainstorm help. The emphasis is increasingly places on these skills, with which the institutions both follow and lead the changes in the world of professions. You no longer carry out an assignment by yourself. A network of people with different fields of expertise work closely together. This is already the reality in many sectors. School such as SintLucas, Mijn School and the Johan Cruyff College expressly give shape to these networks. Not because it’s cosy, but because it’s the working method that caused professionals in their sector to leave the financial crisis behind them and started receiving orders again. Thinking in networks, which is already common in business life, is also becoming visible in the programmes. On the first day of his programme, the student enters a community in which people from different disciplines work together on something bigger. SintLucas makes its creative community even the core business. You are involved in activities of the programme until long after graduation. You are a Sint for life. Students work closely together with everyone, inside these schools and outside. With teachers and coaches, with HBO students and parents, companies, institutions and other programmes.

8: Learning environment – Where do they learn?All stories in this book are about the modern learning environment. The school is a place where everyone learns with each other, all school years mixed. Shaped with attractive and open spaces where people meet and work on assignments. Sometimes, the school designs a project environment with tools that are available in companies, which is the case in AC Duurzaam. We saw a surprising approach in Doetinchem at Mijn School. There the students are invited to build their own school in the large industrial hall they have at their disposal. Rooms are decorated, screened and opened with partitions, pallets, scrap wood and whatever is available. Flexible and attractive! But learning increasingly takes place outside the school, at organisations, at home or abroad. How long will the school building be important anymore for vocational educations?

9: Time – When do they learn?All programmes quickly realised the format of time is crucial in order to personalise things and make things flexible. Lessons are combined into shifts, so students can properly work on projects, or are shortened to 30 minutes and reserved for instructions, so students can use the remaining time to work on assignments. At Mijn School, students decide whether they want to follow classes from the schedule or work on a project through self-study. It’s feasible if an entire department is equipped this way. Scheduling problems only occur when teachers have to divide themselves into two systems. Schools often let go of the school year system and prefer to work in phases, periods of three of five weeks, or with fully continuous lines, in which a student can move faster or slower. At Friesland College and the Johan Cruyff College we see the first initiatives to abandon traditional school breaks.

10: Examination – How is their learning assessed?The first casualty of personalised learning is the fixed structure of tests. At most institutions of this book, students are stimulated to plan themselves and work towards tests. This naturally leads to tempo differences. All discussed programmes of course follow the exam rules, where the flexibility of the central national exams for arithmetic, language and English suit the flexible structure of the programmes. You can take the test when you are ready. Most schools in the book are ready for fully flexible completion. Organisationally, flexible examination is very demanding. More on this in ‘The role of IT’ (page 175). A common method of examination is formative tests, informal conversations that suit the concrete working situation. Students often track their work, evaluations and feedback in portfolios that serve as the backbone of the personal exam file.

THE 4C/ID MODEL

LEARNING TASKSEducation: learning through projects, assignments, and suchMeaningful, based on complete tasksVarietyFrom easy to difficultLess and less help and guidance

PROCEDURAL INFORMATIONRoutine aspects of learning tasksStep by step instructionsJust in time, exactly when needed

SUBTASK EXERCISESAdditional practice for routine aspectsMuch repetitionPreviously dealt with in learning taskTask classesProfessional practice situationsMaster planningIncreasingly complex

SUPPORTING INFORMATIONKnowledge to carry out learning tasksSolving problems, reasoning, decision makingDomain knowledgeProblem approach

OBSTACLES AND SOLUTIONSThe web outlined above, showing an overview of the choices the schools make, is in fact a blueprint for a future-oriented intermediate vocational education. But this situation can’t easily be achieved. Laws and practical objections stand in the way. As always, a lot is changing in MBO and this is paired with confusion and frustration. “You follow a programme to learn a profession, not to meet the qualification file,” says a teacher of Friesland College. And we received similar comments on other locations. The schools are looking for the perfect balance between their educational ambitions and the rules. We will discuss the biggest obstacles on the road to change. And if there are any, we will mention the solutions the schools provide.

RegulationEfficient thinkingAs director René van Gils of the Graafschap College (Mijn School) describes it: “the financing system of the Ministry discourages ROCs more than it encourages a generous recruitment policy. Adolescents in vulnerable situations simply cost more – higher guidance costs, smaller classrooms – and at the same time lead to lower efficiency funding. Image and efficiency are important success factors in intermediate vocational education. So how great is it to hear that the efforts of Mijn School regarding adolescents in vulnerable positions has a promoting image effect rather than a weakening image effect on a lot of employers?”

The Guided Teaching Time (BOT) and Inspectorate There is still much uncertainty about these rules. The schools have two options: comply with the rules for BOT or opt for deviation of the hours norm. We encountered both alternatives.

Option 1: An educational activity can only count as guided teaching time when the lessons take place under the pedagogical teaching responsibility of a teacher and if there is proactive guidance. The most important criteria is: can the teacher actively intervene in the learning process?

Option 2: The new rules for teaching time created room for school to deviate from the hours norm. if the quality is (provably) guaranteed, students and organisations are satisfied, and the Executive Board explicitly approves the deviation, a school doesn’t have to meet the norm for BOT. This gives a programme a lot of freedom and responsibility. The Inspectorate assesses whether these rules are followed, but also thinks along, according to a number of interviewees. Deviating from the norm gives the programme space to work in an innovating way and according to their own vision to offer the best education to students. Hanno Ambaum, founder of Mijn School: “If certain students don’t fit inside the system, this is no reason to drop out. It’s a reason to modify the system.”

Implementation Costs“In the end, it’s cheaper to put 32 students in a classroom with a teacher in front of them. You can even make some money out of it. The quality of the education would however be lower,” says the education manager of AC Duurzaam. You can see the tension between the costs of intensive guidance and the quality of education everywhere. The programmes in this book all show that it pays off to focus more on the quality by shaping the organisation according to the needs of the student. Financial impulses from provincial or other subsidies are very important for a flying start of a process of change. However, not all Boards turn out to use additional funds. Directors did ensure us that the schools us the grants for development and that the programme in the new form by definition has to be paid from the basic funding. Cooperation

with businesses, that also invest in the new types of education, also make sure an approach is affordable.

Use of teachersThe innovative methods we describe require a lot of teachers. Especially the coaching of students requires a different approach. The job is therefore not for everyone. We also see a sophistication of positions and specialties arise. There’s more variety for teachers. The possibility to focus more on coaching, professional knowledge or on the development of education in most cases turns out to be an enrichment of the work.

Regularity and rhythmDifferent schools see holidays as annoying interruptions of the learning process. Coaches intensively and regularly talk to students about their developments at school or at the internship organisation. They sometimes see the effect of their efforts disappear because of a holiday break. A student falls back into his old habits, lost his rhythm and it takes effort and additional guidance to get things back on track. At Friesland College, participating companies and institutions sometimes ask students to continue to work (paid) during their break.

Administration If the student forms both the starting and ending point of education, the organisation around it is labour intensive. Properly tracking developments at school and at the organisation requires a lot of registration time. A part of this task can be taken off the hands of a teacher, but a big part of this has to be done by the teacher himself. It turns out that looking differently at the progress of a student, wanting to work with feedback and using broader assessment is difficult to automate. The couple of systems that are actually available to help you in this, don’t ‘talk’ to each other. We however heard this quite regularly: “This way of working has so many benefits that we take the administrative burden for granted. If necessary, we’ll just make Excel files again.” It sounds good, but we also know that is often is the reason to abandon an innovative approach and go back to old systems. It’s therefore a constant point of concern!

“If certain students don’t fit inside the system, this is no reason to drop out. It’s a reason to modify the system.”

THE ROLE OF IT

Everywhere we went we saw plenty of IT use. “Students use IT in a very organic way. Wherever IT is needed on the workfloor, the student comes into contact with it. And that’s the case almost everywhere. At a printing company it can be about digital design and a caretaker can work with apps about health. The IT playing field is constantly changing and the students experience these changes on the workflooor,” says Bernice Andeweg of Friesland College. Does this mean the role of IT is optimal? Unfortunately, appearances are deceiving. We witnessed under utilisation of the possibilities, and disappointment about the things that aren’t possible yet. The average ROC is way ahead of primary and secondary education in different aspects. Internet connections are generally perfectly fine, Eduroam provides reliable access with high satisfaction rates and it seems like every student and teacher has their own device. This has everything to do with the possibility of a large organisation to design a decent IT service bureau and centralising a lot of things. Various directors and other stakeholders however acknowledged it’s an inhibiting advantage. The IT service bureaus are difficult to follow because of their big responsibility and sole knowledge of IT. This creates the classical image that they don’t listen to the needs of the user, don’t think along and answer requests with a ‘no’. It’s often an unfair image, caused by the fact they need to translate functional questions of users into technical requirements at any time.

The worlds of technology and education have a hard time growing towards each other. We can analyse the situation according to the parts of the Four in Balance model.

VisionThe educational vision of these schools create a number of IT wishes that could support the working situation on the locations. We often encountered the discussion of centralised versus decentralised. The interests of the management approach on the central IT bureau don’t always meet the more flexibly oriented approach of the innovative school. As the Johan Cruyff College already noticed: supportive ROC services are often not happy with a special position. The chapters on the education logistical approach that is used ROC-wide (Rijn IJssel, Landstede, Friesland College) also show that the Board has difficulties determining when a new system should be introduced centrally and to what extent departments are allowed to create their own solutions. Schools however clearly choose systems that must guarantee ‘anytime, anywhere’ access to all education products. We’re all going into the cloud. Students must be able to access their materials anywhere in the world, at any time of the day. This is a completely obvious fundamental idea of the described institutions. The development from education logistics at Landstede and Rijn IJssel is interesting to follow. Multiple ROCs now systematically approach making courses more flexible, so the student can benefit from more tailored work and a greater choice. How do you streamline the current educational processes? And how do you develop a good supportive IT system? The models by Triple A, developed by saMBO-ICT, provide insight into the way digital system scan support all processes, such as intake, planning, guidance, examination and graduation. The process of design and implementation is an enormous operation, which can only be implemented ROC-wide. It is a process of many years during which many old habits have to be eliminated. Schools must accurately describe educational and business processes and house them in systems: the more you want to personalise, the stricter the agreements on the front side become.

Expertise

‘Anytime, anywhere’ access is a logical basic idea, but that doesn’t mean the teachers have a perfect command of this. Most institutions report that IT is used very little to support the educational process. This may be simply due to a lack of awareness of it. As the conclusion from the Four in Balance monitor 2016 shows: IT is used sufficiently, but is not really utilised. Specialised IT expertise is naturally plentiful at these schools. For years, working with professional packages is a must, such as in technology and the creative sector, which also takes place in the schools, guided by professional teachers. But we didn’t come across many future-oriented developments that are discussed in the Kennisnet Trend Report 2016-2017. We did however see this at AC Duurzaam, where they notice things in mechanical and electrical engineering are becoming smaller and more functional. They work with Arduino, a micro controller with tons of possibilities. A teacher: “All possibilities of a PC can currently be incorporated in devices, no matter how small. Devices are equipped with wi-fi, so they can be operated from a distance. Working with sensors and data is the next step. The tendency of the Internet of Things is something that will play a role in the industry. A service engineer of the future will no longer come by at fixed moments to maintain a machine, but whenever the machine itself asks for it. The service engineer has to be incorporate a bit of IT.”

Content and applicaitonsAutomating routine tasks in companies changes the identity of the intermediate vocational education sector. The changes the eight schools make are witnesses thereof. Clever use of opportunities for automation in the primary process is largely absent in MBO. There is much more discussion in primary and secondary education about the production of adaptive learning materials and learning analytics you can track the developments of students with. We didn’t see much use of an adaptive, central final exam or programmes such as Rekentuin in MBO school. This is underutilisation by ignorance, because the products are actually available. The educational choice to offer rich assignments and learning units 24/7 provides an entirely different view of course material in general and the methods in particular. Carrying out an assignment requires sources and proper processing software. We were surprised by the large production of knowledge clips, recorded instructions, that are recorded in the course catalogue of the school as source material. The familiar Office programmes, but also major professional programmes such as Photoshop, AutoCAD and Revit are used a lot. Students however also choose to use (free) online programmes such as Google Sketch. It’s interesting to follow these developments over the upcoming years. Providing students with feedback during the learning process is essential, but this is another field the power of IT isn’t being utilised. Feedback tools are for instance rarely used. Only at SintLucas do teachers receive feedback from students on their new modules through the online tool Parantion. A principal notes: “When the students walk out of the building, you already know what can be improved. This feedback is processed in the following module.”

IT applications for the organisation of education are everywhere seen as an obstacle. From the perspective of a director, a logical desire is a single monitoring system for the entire ROC. But forerunners sometimes feel trapped by it. Other departments often provide resistance, because people don’t like to change systems. As a director says: “Introducing something new is easy. Cleaning up the old stuff is complicated.” It requires a cultural shift of all people involved. During the talks with the schools we heard the same disappointment about the market of educational products as with the forerunners in primary and secondary education. The systems that should enable working flexibly and from the individual student’s perspective, are not available yet or don’t run optimally yet. EduArte is market leader in the field of education information systems. The two most common timetable packages are Schedule and Untis. Magister is often used as student administration system. Institutions

encounter difficulties with available links between these packages or the lack of links. This problem forces some school to work in a less personalised way than they would like. The words of Paul Hamel of SintLucas Boxtel are illustrative: “Modular scheduling is a problem everywhere. Schedule can do it, but doesn’t talk to Magister. We have obligatory responsibilities to for instance Bron. We work around it with a lot of bypasses. It’s all so laborious that we’re definitely not talking about IT removing some of the burden.” Institutions, especially large ones, are always tempted to invest in tools by having them custom-built.

InfrastructureThe aforementioned scale of an ROC already long ago ensured the general IT infrastructure was in order. The availability of wi-fi is almost 90% according to the Four in Balance Monitor. From this surety of connection, we see that schools mainly choose for Bring Your Own Device. What can we say? The applications are leading and those are now all in the cloud: one can access the products from anywhere in the world, it’s carefree, and the choice of device becomes less important because of it. Keeping the network up and running is still plumber’s work. Eduroam is a beautiful solution to access. In addition to wireless, a cabled infrastructure will always remain relevant, because it makes sure the wireless network stays connected to the internet, the printers and other devices in the school. One point of concern is the ability to keep up with the growing use. The number of devices is growing from 1:3 to 2:1 – each student owns a phone and a laptop – which has a major impact. The capacity of the internet connection has to keep growing. So institutions have to keep investing in this.

Keeping the network up and running is still plumber’s work

BY-CATCH

As with all innovations, there are unexpected side effects. You suddenly realise new methods bring along unsuspecting advantages. These sometimes are no side issues but success factors of innovation.

Offering live virtual lessons unexpectedly leads to more intensive interaction between the teacher on the screen and the students at different locations, nationally and internationally.

By scheduling in shifts much more space is created because the evening turned out to be a popular shift for both students and teachers.

Much new energy is created among teachers when they work closely together or at companies and gain more insight into what’s occurring in their field of expertise.

The teachers feel the same energy in students, when they realise how much they can actually teach a student. It provides them with new appreciation for the richness of their own profession.

There’s more appreciation from the business world when they see how much effort a school makes to involve non-placeable students in practice at a good level.

CONCLUSIE

All reasons for change are of course familiar to every ROC. There’s no place in the Netherlands these issues don’t exist. It’s therefore disappointing that institutions share little knowledge with each other and barely work together. As creative and surprising the solutions in this book are, the more unbelievable it is that there aren’t many more school reaping the benefits of these successful projects, not even within their own ROCs. Structural research on what works does not often take place. When asking why that’s the case, we heard more than once: “The MBO is not so research-y, we are doers.” The impact of good changes however increases when there’s more evidence for them. MBOs and other education sectors can also gain a lot in more concrete issues, such as financial purchasing advantages or a bundled demand to the market. Despite various national or regional initiatives, MBO institutions didn’t succeed to jointly make a difference. The five participating programmes of the Netwerkschool for instances started interesting experiments, but these turned out to be no flywheel for major changes. All in all it didn’t take much effort to find eight interesting and far-reaching change processes. There are probably many more. The fact we actually had to look for them is food for thought. The people we interviewed are humble about their work. But if you line up their experiences, they offer a wealth of knowledge and inspiration for every MBO in the Netherlands. It shows at large conferences how eager people are to learn from these schools and to share their own experiences. It takes courage. To change and to start. In short, to just do it. The students on these eight schools can be happy with the people who shape their programme. Isn’t that what every MBO-student deserves? To give force to Emma’s call in the preface: Show that you can also do it. let’s study, research, discuss, share each other’s concept, but most of all, let’s get moving!

A treasure of knowledge and inspiration for every MBO in the Netherlands