Are you able to translate your vision on education into a successful innovation in a school at home or abroad?

In this minor, Innovative Educational Approaches, you get acquainted with the basic principles and content of well-known but also less known forms of traditional and modern innovative education. The lessons are given by authoritative teachers from different countries. We are collaborating for example with the University of Bicocca (Milano/Italy) and Palacky University (Olomouc/Czech Republic). You will get the opportunity to specialize in an innovative concept and do either an internship in a primary school in The Netherlands, or you get the opportunity to attend an internship abroad.

Course content

In this minor you will learn about the most important reform pedagogical principles and how they can be interpreted in practice. You can connect these reform pedagogical principles with contemporary renewal initiatives in education, like for example personalized learning or relevant themes such as sustainability or cooperative learning. You learn what the main principles are of the five most important reform pedagogical concepts: Montessori, Dalton, Freinet, Waldorf and Jenaplan education. But also less known concepts, such as Pizzigoni Education. Students can differentiate between these main principles and consider them critically. Based on this knowledge you describe and justify your own vision of learning/education in a manifesto.

At the same time this phase of the minor is a starting point for a critical analysis of your own educational practice. You will be provided with tools, with which you can write an innovation plan for your own internship (change management). This task will be supervised by experienced teachers. With the help of this supervisors, you look for a suitable internship at home or abroad, where (in consultation with the host- or own school) you write the innovation plan.

Target group

The target group are students who are becoming a teacher. Students who are following courses in the field of education and upbringing are also more than welcome. Finally, with this minor we also focus on beginning teachers who are already working in the field of education.

This minor is not open to Health Care and Social Work students. 

Your level of English must be: Level B2.

Experiences

Student from Italy: It is a very enriching and beautiful experience for future teachers. Student from Italy: In general, both the training and the treatment they have given us from the first day has been excellent and it is undoubtedly an experience that I would recommend to other students. ´

Student from Spain: For me, the idea of ​​the project and the simple opportunity to get out of the classroom and get to know different methodologies and ways of educating, having the possibility of observing and reflecting on the different schools, is already something incredible and that has taught me and awakened much more knowledge than many of subjects in my degree. 

Student form the Netherlands: Nice to learn about different education systems and visit the schools. Also going abroad was a very nice experience.

Student from the Netherlands: My vision for education is clear which means I now know what kinds of schools to apply to.

Course structure

The minor consist of three parts:

In the first part you will be provided with tools, with which you can investigate and change educational practices. Lectures are at Saxion in Enschede for about two weeks. In the second part, you will do an internship, where you will write and execute an innovation plan for the school in question, mostly abroad.

The last phase of the minor will consist of lectures and workshops, and will include several formative assessments at Saxion again. This is a theoretical part, with a general introduction into reform pedagogical concepts.

The first two parts will take 11 weeks. This last part will take 9 weeks. Throughout the minor you will be supervised and supported in person or remotely using online collaboration tools.

Assessment methods

In the first phase students implement an innovation plan for a primary school itself. It is the so-called professional product/the practical part (15 ects).

In most cases, this is a group effort, because most students will be doing an internship with one or two other students in the same school. The group will write a report on the findings of the innovation and the research that was conducted, which supports the innovation plan. Students present the findings before a delegation from the internship school and for some teachers and students from the minor.

The profile part is a presentation for teachers and students of the minor. You have to present your vision on education in a comprehensible way to a professional audience by means of a poster presentation which is justified in a manifesto (15 ects). This is an individual test. 

Application for non-Saxion students:
Before submitting through Kies op Maat please contact the minor-contactperson : Ellen ter Bogt (e.g.j.terbogt@saxion.nl) if participating is still possible or whether the maximum number of participants has been reached.

How do I apply?
The application process regarding the Kies op Maat minor at Saxion is a bit different than described at www.kiesopmaat.nl

How does it work?
Step 1: Download the learning agreement from the Kies op Maat website and let it sign by a member of the exam commission at your own educational institution ánd sign the document yourself.
Step 2: go to https://sis.saxion.nl/account# and fill in your personal data
Step 3: you will receive an automatic generated email from IAM including your username and password
Step 4: go the https://sis.saxion.nl, log on with your username and password which you have received from IAM and apply!
Step 5: After this we can process your application for a Kies op Maat minor at Saxion

Please note : in 'Upload documents' you are requested to upload some documents. The following documents we need:

• A copy of your valid passport or ID-card. No driving license!
• A copy of your propaedeutic diploma or a printout from the DUO diploma register. In case you do not have the propaedeutic diploma yet, we would like to receive an official statement from your educational institution in which they state that you will receive the propaedeutic diploma before the start of the minor.
• Learning agreement, page 1, 2 and 3 (signed by a member of the exam commission of your own education institution and student)
• Original Proof of Payment for the study year 2025-2026 (available from June). You can request this proof from your educational institution, also if you pay in instalments. Your educational institution will email the Proof of Payment to Saxion.
  Deadline for handing in the original Proof of Payment is 2 weeks before the start of the minor.
• If you have further questions, please let us know. You can contact Saxion Student Registration, 088 – 019 3000.