In the Netherlands, and in many other countries, teacher policy and teacher education are strongly focused on ensuring that teachers meet certain minimum standards. As all student teachers need to meet these standards, teacher education programmes might put the main emphasis on the ‘average’ student and pay little attention to students who can perform better, which would lead to a middle-ofthe-road perspective on teachers and teacher education curricula. However, there is a growing awareness within higher education of the diversity of students with respect to their abilities and ambitions. In the Netherlands, there are initiatives to develop excellence programmes and honours programmes that recognize and accept student diversity. Such programmes offer ‘excellent’ students new challenges in the development of their excellence. But as ‘excellence’ is not centrally defined, higher education institutes can define the concept independently. Here, we present two examples of teacher education institutes that have developed honours programmes that emphasize excellent student teachers. While traditionally honours programmes in universities are focused on stimulating outstanding research performance of excellent students, in both examples a different focus is taken. The honours programmes in these universities for applied sciences do not focus on academic performance, but focus more directly on the roles of outstanding teachers in schools. One of these institutes focuses on primary teacher roles, the other on secondary teacher roles. Both use research in the content of the honours programmes and in the evaluation of the programmes. Here, an analysis of the two programmes is related to developments in teacher policy and the teaching profession with respect to teacher excellence, e.g. the recent recommendation from the Netherlands Education Council to nominate the top 5% of teachers as ‘excellent teachers’ – a recommendation that was received with mixed feelings by teachers, teachers’ unions and school leaders
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Pursuit of Excellence in a Networked Society gives an overview of research and practice, describing and exploring efforts toward continuous improvement in programming to promote excellence. The talent development of students and teachers is a hot topic in today’s knowledge-based society which increasingly demands innovative, reflective, and globally-aware citizens. Educa¬tional programmes especially designed to prepare academically motivated students for their future role now wrap around the globe. Therefore, in order to support continuous growth and opportunities for challenging our advanced learners, we have opened up new ways for sharing knowledge and to encourage the building up of partnerships and conversations between researchers and teachers. The Research Centre for Talent Development in Higher Education and Society, headed by Marca Wolfensberger and based at Hanze University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, organised the first international conference “Evoking Excellence in Higher Education and Beyond”. As Joseph Renzullli says in the foreword, this conference brought together scholars and educators from around the world to share their work in promoting high-level learning experiences. Presenters discussed their research and practical efforts in honours programmes, gifted programmes, and other contexts aimed at evoking excellence.This book offers a selection of the work of those presenting at this conference. Across six chapters, the following topics are discussed: teaching strategies, culture of excellence, students’ perspectives, professional excellence, ethics and intercultural perspectives, and giftedness across educational sectors. The book offers readers a comprehensive view of the field of excellence in education as well as an overview for readers interested in setting-up initiatives to foster excellence among their own students and employees.
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Honors programs and similar initiatives aimed at evoking excellence of students are increasingly promoted in higher education. However, there is a lack of conceptual clarity with regard to the concept of ‘student excellence’. The purpose of this article is to present a conceptual framework, called FACE (Framework for Analyzing Conceptions of Excellence), which provides a reflective tool for analyzing ideas on who is excellent, what is student excellence, why is student excellence important, and how is excellence taught. The content of FACE is based on literature on giftedness, motivation and excellence in higher education. FACE consists of a horizontal axis with inclusive and exclusive views at the extremes, and vertically distinguishes between possible answers to the ‘who’-, ‘what’-, ‘why’- and ‘how’-questions. FACE as a reflective tool can facilitate constructive debate among teachers that work together to develop educational programs aimed at evoking excellence of students.
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In M.V.C. Wolfensberger, L. Drayer, & J.J.M. Volker (Eds.), Pursuit of Excellence in a networked society. Theoretical and Practical Approaches (pp 225-233). Munster: Waxmann.
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PurposeHonours programs prepare talented students to become future excellent professionals . However, competences defining an excellent professional have not been elucidated yet. We investigated how professionals characterize an excellent communication professional, aiming to develop a competence profile to guide honours education at Communication Institute of Hanze University of Applied Sciences.Conceptual frameworkThe amount of freedom in honours education is an important aspect distinguishing honours from regular programms. However, also for honoursstudents an amount of structure is needed. Explicit learning goals are an effective way to offer structure and enhance performance (Locke & Latham, 2006). Competence profiles can direct these learning goals in honours education. Research questions and designWe performed empiric research to understand how professionals characterize an excellent communication professional and implemented this competence profile in honours education. One year after implementation, perceptions of students and staff on the profile and its implementation were analysed.Using a mixed-method approach, three focus group discussions were conducted with communication professionals (N=16), followed by a Delphi panel with experts (N=30). In each focus group, professionals discussed competences and behaviors characterizing an excellent communication professional. After validation, the profile was implemented in the honours programme. One year after implementation, students and staff evaluated the use of the profile.Data collection and analysisAll focus group sessions were recorded and transcribed. Analysis was done by two researches independently, using open coding on ATLAS ti., based on the grounded theory method. In a consensus meeting, a concept profile was developed. This concept profile was validated through a Delphi survey with Dutch experts to achieve a quantifiable consensus. One year after implementation, perceptions of students and staff on the profile and its implementation were collected and analysed.Results Data clarify that in addition to possessing solid technical skills and practical knowledge, excellent communication professionals are differentiated by their capacity to be strategic, empathic, expressive, decisive and to see patterns and interrelationships. In a second phase, honours faculty used the excellent professional profile as a benchmark to develop a set of six undergraduate level learning outcomes to structure the honours programme and assessment standards. For each of these learning outcomes, smaller developmental milestones were defined to help students gauge their development and reflect on their progress during three honours years. A digital assessment tool was created to monitor student growth and structure annual summative assessment processes. One year following creation and application, students and staff were asked to evaluate the implementation of the excellence profile and learning outcomes. Results are discussed in terms of implications for both curriculum design, operational effects and assessment quality. Conclusions This research promotes an connection between the professional field and educators, resulting in curricular changes. The implemmentation of competence profiles of excellent professionals in honours curricula offer clear learing goals to guide student’s development and, furhtermore, improves the transition from educational programs to professional practice, allowing students to develop (or strengthen) competences and behaviors which are, according to professionals themselves, essential for that profession. This exchange between professional field and educators can lead to new standards needed to face future challenges.Theoretical/Practical implications This is the first empiric study profiling the excellent communication professional. Practical relevance of this profile is twofold. For the work field, it describes competences which could be used for strategic selection of high potential candidates. For educators, it offers guidelines for assessment and curricular development, especially in honours education. In this presentation we explain 1) the research conducted to develop a competence profile for the excellent communication professional, 2) how it was subsequently used to guide curricular development and 3) the experiences concerning implementation by staff and students one year following implementation.
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This presentation compares the two main gifted education programmes for undergraduate students in the Netherlands and Germany. The programmes were evaluated and will be compared in terms of the institutions involved, the educational objectives pursued, the nature of support provided to the students, and the anticipated effects (Netherlands), respectively the achieved effects (Germany). The Dutch study focuses on the Sirius Program established by the Dutch government which invited universities to submit their own plans for the promotion of student excellence. The successful applications are analysed with respect to the above mentioned criteria. The German study focuses on the ideational support means, which is a varied enrichment programme provided by several national foundations that is supported with money and guidelines by the German government. The scholarship recipients were interviewed in large online surveys ( N1 = 2379 and N2 = 1614). Both programmes are endowed with public funding and thus are shaped by political objectives. Also, both programmes are conducted by non-governmental institutions: universities in the Netherlands, and basically political, religious and social foundations in Germany. Thus, the presentation provides insights in theory and practice of gifted undergraduate education in both countries. The discussion will address the impact of political objectives and organizational structures on the reality of gifted education. Strategies for educators to accumulate scientific knowledge about gifted education, about evidence-based goals and about real life limitations will be provided. The different evaluation methods will be discussed in order to find out the best practice for research.
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The Research Centre for Talent Development in Higher Education and Society, based at Hanze University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, organised the first international conference “Evoking Excellence in Higher Education and Beyond”. This conference brought together scholars and educators from around the world to share their work in promoting high-level learning experiences. Presenters discussed their research and practical efforts in honours programmes, gifted programmes, and other contexts aimed at evoking excellence. This book offers a selection of the work of those presenting atthis conference. Across six chapters, the following topics are discussed: teaching strategies, culture of excellence, students’ perspectives, professional excellence, ethics and intercultural perspectives, and giftedness across educational sectors. By this publication readers get a comprehensive view of the field of excellence in education as well as an overview for readers interested in setting-up initiatives to foster excellence among their own students and employees.
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The Center of Nursing Excellence (CNE) in Kazakhstan is developed within the ProInCa project. The CNE focuses on the transfer of research outcomes into nursing practice and the research ideas to the universities for research and educational purposes. It includes mechanisms for collaboration and knowledge sharing within the Centre of Nursing Excellence between the academic national and international nursing community (universities and other educational institutions) and society. These mechanisms involve the creation of an e-platform and formalized national and international networks and working groups.
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