Case study 3 Autonomy of the teacher in training within the secondary school system

Before you can dive further into the case study, it is important to know more about secondary education in the Netherlands and the way teacher training is designed. In this step you read about the Dutch school system and talk about the similarities and differences between the different countries. 

Materials 

• https://www.government.nl/topics/secondary-education  

• https://www.onderwijsloket.com/kennisbank/artikel-archief/teaching-qualifications-in-the-netherlands/  

After reading the information, answer the following questions with your team. Make sure to take notes in your team document at each step. 

• What are the main characteristics of secondary education in the Netherlands? 

• Ask your peers about their teacher training programme and how this is organized in their country. Exchange some experiences about working at schools or doing an internship:  

  1. 1. • What responsibilities do you have? 

        • How would you describe the relation to your supervisor? Is this how you think most students in your country experience it? 

        • Do you recognize the issue from the case study in your own experience? 

        • If you want to implement a new idea or something you learned, how would you approach this at your school? 

In this step, you will learn more about what innovative professional potential is, as well as learn about autonomy in relation to the self-determination theory in a work context. 

Materials 

• Revisit literature and team notes from The basics 

  • • Katz & Assor 2006

    • The Radboud University brochure on autonomy support

The brochure is in Dutch. An English translation is provided for in the Google Drive folder (-> Course materials). 

• Deci, Olafsen & Ryan 2017 on self-determination theory in work organisation 

Katz & Assor 2006 refer to Deci & Ryan 2000 for the self-determination theory of motivation. We mentioned their article in The basics. For this case study specifically, we selected a different article by the same authors (and Olafsen) that applies the theory to a working environment. 

• Leijen, Pedaste & Lepp 2019 on teacher agency 

• Van Leeuwen, et al. 2022 on early career teachers’ experiences with innovative professional potential

Feel free to divide the reading of these two articles among your group, as long as you are able to exchange notes and insights afterwards.

After reading the materials, answer the following questions with your team. 

• In your own words, what does autonomy or agency of novice teachers and teachers in training look like? 

• What are motivating factors for employees, according to the self-determination theory?  

• What is teacher agency and how can you enact it? 

• What is innovative professional potential? 

• What are factors in an organisation that could benefit teacher autonomy and/or teacher agency? 

• What are factors in an organisation that could hamper teacher autonomy and/or teacher agency? 

In this step, you will dive deeper into teacher agency and the role it plays for inclusive education practice.  

Materials

• • Li 2020 on conceptualising teacher agency for inclusive education

Read the article and take notes based on the following questions. You can do this as a team or individually (but make sure to exchange notes). 

• What have you learned from the article? 

• What questions do you have based on this article? 

• What would you like to use or explore further? 

In this step, you will integrate the findings from the earlier steps.  

With your team, 

• Re-read the case study 

• Formulate the problem of this case study in your own words

• Check your notes from step 1-3 

• Do you have any unanswered questions? If so, how can you answer these questions? 

• Integrate your findings to formulate a solution to the problem 

• How does this connect to your own current situation?

• What questions do you have left? 

In the exchange week you will visit a Montessori secondary school. Montessori is an educational concept for preschool, primary and secondary education. Based on the philosophy of Italian educator Maria Montessori, this educational approach revolves around the principle help me to do it myself. The Montessori method supports children’s sense of curiosity and initiative, and encourages the development of their natural abilities, particularly through practical play. Children learn to work independently. Nowadays, Montessori schools often combine Montessori materials with regular language and math methods. At a Montessori secondary school, the same core objectives apply as for other secondary schools: all students finish their track (vmbo, havo or vwo) with school exams and the central exam.   

Materials

• Brouwer, Leenders, & Sins 2023 on Montessori education in the Netherlands

• The Montessori Theory: Key Concepts (video) 

Take the final steps of the case study:

• Read the article about Montessori education in the Netherlands and watch the video with the key concepts of the Montessori Theory. 

• Imagine that the teacher in training from the case study works at the Montessori school you are visiting. The topic they want to introduce in the curriculum/method does not fit within the vision of the school. How does this specific school context affect the outcome of step 4? Discuss within the group on which basis you need to change your advice to help the specific teacher in training at the Montessori school.  

• Formulate at least one question that you are curious about after the case study and want to ask one of the teachers in training present at the Montessori school visit in January.   

Consult your teacher trainer via e-mail or during the physical meeting on campus planned in week 4 of the course. 

It is also possible to contact the coordinator of STEP, Esmée Bruggink. She can help you out with practical matters and connect you to teacher trainers from Radboud University when you have questions on the materials and/or assignments of this case study specifically. 

Are any of the links to the materials for this case study unavailable to you? Downloads of all course materials are also available in our Google Drive.