News
Empowering teachers to become partners in learning – Insights from an ADD-wired brain
What connects WUR’s new Vision for Education, student’s feedback on the course Professional and Personal Resilience: The Science and Practice of Well-Being and a magpie to one another? All of them are at the roots of my Senior University Teacher Qualification (SUTQ) trajectory. Being part of this third cohort (2025) I look forward to deep diving into the apparent need for a new / different kind of educator. And, by combining my Educational and Personal Professionalization projects I strive to define a set of guiding principles empowering teachers to evolve into partners in learning.
By designing such guiding principles, I aim to provide our educators with guidance and encouragement as WUR’s new Vision for Education focuses on student’s personal development (direction I “Towards ownership for personal development”) while teachers are specifically mentioned as partners in learning / powerful exemplars (direction II “Towards an inspiring learning community”). Two directions already appreciated and necessitated by students who participated in the MOS module ELS67800 / Professional and Personal Resilience.
These students regularly share feedback in which they appreciate what we train and how we show up as persons ourselves, acknowledging that our approach has had a significant impact on their learning journey. Comments received via ELS67800 PaCE evaluations that, amongst others, touched our hearts and have inspired me, as the course coordinator, to start thinking about possible SUTQ projects, are:
- “I also think that you created a safe space to express feelings, reflection and emotions which is important when talking about personal topics. Also, by showing your own vulnerability as teachers (this is rare in education!), I personally felt more inclined to be vulnerable as well. This contributed to a deeper connection to other students through their stories.”;
- “… I can use what I’ve learned for the rest of my life. I honestly feel more confident and secure about my ability to handle stressful situations.” and
- “… we did not only look at our professional personality but also on the personal part of us. As I believe that you can not separate them, I think most of the courses lack the acknowledgement of our personalities and our personal well-being. I enjoyed very much to be able to do personal development in a university course and connect it to my profession.”.
Furthermore, on an even more personal note, defining and discussing my envisioned SUTQ trajectory has provided me with a little extra nudge to further explore why I have so often felt the need to mask my personality, trying to fit in and “act normal”. Especially as, even though I have been part of this academic setting for the past 15+ years, I only occasionally feel like I am actually supposed to be here.
On various occasions I have used the analogy of the magpie to explain how I live and process life: I am observant, find freedom in clear communication and structure, can be bold / loud whenever I am deeply excited or intensely frustrated, am creatively noticing connections and processes and, last but not least, I am easily entertained (also known as distracted) by whatever glimmer catches my (inner) eye. And for a long time I, honestly, thought this to be “not normal”. Only recently I learned this is actually totally and utterly normal, just that such a brain is often labelled as ADD-wired.
By combining my personal expedition as a case-study perspective to my professional exploration I hope curiosity, community and plenty of new connections will become nourishing elements of my SUTQ journey. So, if any (or all) of these themes spark your excitement and / or connect with who you are, please get in touch. I would be grateful to get to know you and for being able to learn from your educational, research and / or personal insights, experiences, questions and / or suggestions.
Contact person: ramona.laurentzen@wur.nl
