The main goal of the expertise centre is to realise a learning, researching culture at SintLucas. This is conditional for the leading education for meaningful creativity that we want to offer.
Since 2022, SintLucas has been building an expertise centre. It consists of the practice and learning labs in which teacher-researchers and researchers work together, educational advice and quality and makerspaces at both SintLucas locations. It is a part of the school where we inspire each other, where we professionalise for life, where we connect internally and externally and where we find answers to the issues we face in an inquisitive way. Any colleague or educational partner interested in this can seek cooperation.
Research
Professionalise
Collaborate
Inspire
Experiment
What do you find most important in your work within education?
At the centre of my Golden Circle, the ‘why’ I do something, is having fun. When I come in here, colleagues already start laughing when they look at me because I always wear T-shirts with a distinctive print. These elicit a reaction from my students and often provide a fun icebreaker at the start of the lesson. But so do my colleagues. I also look for T-shirts that match the lessons I teach. An example: UV light makes it possible to bring out certain things for restorers and paintings. During a lesson on this, I switched off the lights in the classroom. The students reacted enthusiastically: ‘Hey sir, your shirt totally lights up!’ ‘Oh yes,’ I said, ‘So this is light reacting to a material, just like UV light.’ Having fun in lessons in these kinds of ways helps me level up with students.
How do you ensure that students get the most out of themselves?
There should be a personal connection. When students enter the classroom, they are first allowed five minutes to unwind and we talk about personal things. In this way, I soon discover who they are, what is going on in their lives and what they consider important. With this, I plant seeds. For example, there is a boy in one of my classes who actually didn’t want to be at school. He preferred to occupy himself with other things, like motocross. Yet I managed to motivate him, by linking his hobby to school work. Namely, he had to take a series of pictures based on one colour. Coincidentally, his bike has three parts with the same colour. That idea excited him. He even took a photo camera home on his own initiative, so that he could work on the assignment at home. I thought that was really cool! My personal approach gave him an impetus to experience school as a nicer place again.
What do you like best about working at SintLucas?
The space for individuality. I teach 50% of the time and the other 50% I do other things. I get to fill in how I achieve my goals. If I come up with or have been assigned a task or project, I am told, ‘Go and see how you will do it and let me know what you need’. For example, as part of my training, I have suggested creating a personal growth plan for students. I want to make learners aware that we don’t expect them to be able to do everything by themselves at once. We make sure that until they complete their studies, they progress one step at a time. With a softskill portfolio, we can make these small steps of growth of the student visible. This idea has been picked up within SintLucas and I get to present it to the whole team. They see this as a piece of the future they might want to go to. That’s cool! And what also creates endorphins with me is a proud student. There is a former vmbo student, now mbo student, who walked around school with her work for a week. She was so keen to show it to me because I helped make her aware of what she can do. Fat, right?
More stories?
Erno - educational consultant
"I research the impact of AI on meaningful creativity." What, according to Erno, is unique at SintLucas? The freedom you get to take initiative.
Kim - creativity teacher
"Just like the students, I am also a lifelong learner." Find out what Kim believes creativity is really about and why making mistakes is also important.