The case studies

A teacher reads in an article that students’ motivation in pre-vocational secondary education is lower, and dropout rates are higher than in other forms of secondary education. Now they are wondering about their own pre-vocational ‘VMBO’ class, a class with second year pupils, aged 13-14 years. The teacher sees the same things happening as in the article: their pupils have difficulties motivating themselves and some pupils will probably not make it until next year, when they are allowed to choose an occupational sector with a view to further vocational education and training, and their future jobs. The pupils themselves vary in terms of, among others, their cultural background, study motivation, and metacognitive abilities.  

The teacher knows that it is important for the students’ motivation to find a good balance between autonomy, relatedness and competence. They wonder how to approach this issue. Perhaps it would help to implement more autonomy-supportive strategies, but the teacher is not sure how to go about this, especially since their class is very culturally diverse.  

For this case study, you will help the teacher understand more about autonomy-support and how it can promote or hinder autonomy, relatedness and competence. What should the teacher do to successfully implement autonomy-support in their class, so that the motivation of the pupils increases, and the pupils do not drop out? [See more]

A teacher who just started working at a new school is asked as an expert for a special track of twice exceptional pupils. The term twice exceptional refers to pupils who are neurodivergent because they are gifted, as well as have a second aspect of neurodivergence. These pupils do not fit in the traditional school system in the Netherlands and therefore are placed in a group of twice exceptional pupils.  

This class of pupils follow their own learning trajectory, guided by a coach. The coach helps pupils with following the trajectory, by working on their wellbeing and development of metacognitive skills, so they can work on their learning disabilities. Next to a coach, this class is taught by so-called ‘experts’, subject-specific teachers who help the pupils gain knowledge and skills they need to successfully complete their exams.  

As the teacher has been asked to be an expert, they wonder how to approach this class. Due to the different learning trajectories of the pupils, it will be difficult to provide one common lesson. Furthermore, the pupils all have their own challenges when it comes to motivation, learning skills and socio-emotional development.  

Perhaps autonomy-support can help this teacher find a solution. Which strategies based on autonomy-support and insights about twice exceptional pupils can help this teacher to create appropriate learning activities for these pupils? [See more] 

As a teacher in training, you will have ample chance to develop yourself when you are teaching and interacting with a class. You are also expected to develop your own personal vision on education and therefore might want to experiment with different education methods, share your acquired knowledge, or discuss your vision with colleagues and supervisors. For this, you need an environment in which such activities are supported. You need a certain degree of autonomy, and you need to achieve teacher agency. Unfortunately, the ideals of teacher development and agency do not always match real-world circumstances. This case study attests to that. 

A teacher in training followed a course on inclusion and diversity and wishes to integrate this into their teaching method. However, this approach is not part of the method that is used in school. Moreover, their supervisor thinks it's too complicated for a teacher in training, so they do not support this idea. For the teacher in training, this reaction creates tension with their sense of autonomy and leads to hesitation to further develop their personal vision on education. 

In this case study, you will explore how the teacher in training could navigate this situation. What insights and strategies can the teacher in training use to enact their agency for the benefit of inclusive education and realize their professional potential? [See more]