Power to the teacher - VPRO documentary - 2015
36In the episode "Power to the teacher", VPRO Backlight zooms in on three Dutch schools where enthusiastic managers, school leaders, teachers and parents get involved and question the 'fixed values' of education: the division into different classes and learning levels based on standardized tests, the traditional demarcation of the various studied subjects while nature and our brains do not make that distinction at all, school times that seem to be more related to the teacher's Collective Agreement rather than to the development of pupils. Can't we do it differently? How can you offer each student the education that best suits them?
According to Arnold Jonk, Superintendent Primary Education, there is more room for innovation than people often think, because freedom of education is a great asset in the Netherlands. The three schools make full use of this freedom with radical adjustments such as the abolition of subjects, lessons in "big thinkers", free teaching periods and children who can decide for themselves which language they want to learn and how.
At the Niekée innovation school in Roermond they started this school year in collaboration with the Open University with a completely new learning route: Agora. Within Agora children follow education without traditional courses, lessons, timetables or grades. School levels have been abolished, because according to creator Sjef Drummen children in the current system are much too quickly pre-sorted by level.
At the Hyperion Lyceum, in Amsterdam North, works Jasper Rijpma, Teacher of the Year. He is a teacher of History and Great Thinkers, a new subject, just like Lifestyle Informatics. At this new school there is plenty of room for him and his colleagues to adapt the teaching and testing method to the learning style and interest of each individual pupil. They even think about continuing without a rector, now that the pioneering first rector will set up a new teacher training program, where teachers in secondary education can develop into 'master teachers'.
The School in Zandvoort is open for 50 weeks a year from 8 am to 6 pm. Because why not combine your childcare and education so that you can offer flexible times and personal learning paths? Parents are actively involved in the education and planning of their children, and children learn on the basis of themes, through which curriculum and excursions provide coherence and children learn to relate to the world around them.
Originally broadcasted by VPRO in 2015.
© VPRO Backlight February 2015
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Credits:
Director: Alexander Oey
Interviews: Alexander Oey
Research: Marijntje Denters
Production: Marie Schutgens
Editors: Doke Romeijn, Henneke Hagen, Frank Wiering
English, French and Spanish subtitles: Ericsson.
French and Spanish subtitles are co-funded by European Union.