Context When the pandemic hit the world, teachers were forced to change their education from onsite to virtual overnight Understandably, teaching quality decreased in the beginning, as there was little experience in how to adapt the educational design Zuyd University of Applied Sciences ( recognized the problem that teachers were on different didactic and pedagogical levels when it comes to online education Unfortunately, the pandemic made it hard for teachers to connect with each other In the Domain of Health and Welfare, this led to the idea of establishing a professional learning community A professional learning community ( can be seen as an informal group of people who share knowledge and experiences among each other on a common topic they are all highly interested in Zuyd’s vision “passion for development” sets a good basis for the start of such a community. Steps we took In order to find out how a professional learning community can look like in Zuyd, the following steps were taken Firstly, we collected and evaluated literature and best practices around the topic Based on our findings we developed an interview guideline and conducted interviews with eight teachers from the Domain of Health and Welfare Throughout the whole report a SWOT analysis was performed with the literature and best practices filling opportunities and threats and the interviews providing content for strengths and weaknesses Main findings From these sources, we derived enablers for a successful learning community, which led to recommendations for Zuyd on how to strategically position, implement and organize a PLC One of our major recommendations is to make didactic and pedagogical skills an important topic within Zuyd in order to strategically implement the learning community into Zuyd’s strategy Furthermore, we recommend giving the lead in organizing and facilitating the PLC to the blended learning task force To collect a diverse set of interested employees to the core group, the educational managers should personally approach teachers that might be interested The sense of urgency around the topic needs to be addressed regularly through the directors of the Domain, the task force of blended learning, as well as the PLC itself In this way, interest in the topic of didactic and pedagogical skills and blended learning can be enhanced In the report we go into greater detail on how to organize and apply these recommendations. We are convinced that implementing these steps will pay off in the future and will successfully enhance competencies on blended learning and didactic and pedagogical skills through knowledge exchange.
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Explicit language objectives are included in the Swedish national curriculum for mathematics. The curriculum states that students should be given opportunities to develop the ability to formulate problems, use and analyse mathematical concepts and relationships between concepts, show and follow mathematical reasoning, and use mathematical expressions in discussions. Teachers’ competence forms a crucial link to bring an intended curriculum to a curriculum in action. This article investigates a professional development program, ‘Language in Mathematics’, within a national program for mathematics teachers in Sweden that aims at implementing the national curriculum into practice. Two specific aspects are examined: the selection of theoretical notions on language and mathematics and the choice of activities to relate selected theory to practice. From this examination, research on teacher learning in connection to professional development is proposed, which can contribute to a better understanding of teachers’ interpretation of integrated approaches to language and mathematics across national contexts.
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"Je kunt niet op Bonaire wonen en niets van Bonaire afweten, dan ben je een half mens” Duidelijke taal van juf Sonia Janga. Ze is remedial teacher op het Integraal Kind Centrum (IKC) van de Bonairiaanse basisschool Kolegio Kristu Bon Wardador. Ze deed deze uitspraak toen ze door ons werd geïnterviewd over het Bonairiaans burgerschapsprogramma, dat recent voor vier basisscholen op het eiland is ontwikkeld. De noodzaak om een burgerschapsprogramma te ontwikkelen kwam voort uit het feit dat het onderwijs op Bonaire – in de hoedanigheid van bijzondere gemeente binnen het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden – uitgaat van vrijwel dezelfde richtlijnen als voor scholen in Europees Nederland. Daar hoort de burgerschapsopdracht uit 2021 ook bij. In deze bijdrage staan we achtereenvolgens stil bij: 1) de visie achter en uitgangspunten voor het betekenisvolle Bonairiaans burgerschapsonderwijs, 2) de wijze waarop scholen dit burgerschapsonderwijs hebben ontwikkeld en geïmplementeerd en 3) succesfactoren en uitdagingen die de scholen tijdens het proces ondervonden.Inzichten over het Bonairiaanse burgerschapsonderwijsprogramma zijn ook relevant voor scholen in Europees Nederland, die een (cultureel) diverse leerlingpopulatie hebben: ook zij moeten stilstaan bij de vraag welk (burgerschaps)onderwijs voor hun leerlingen betekenisvol is.
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