Phases

The VU Mixed Classroom Educational Model is built on a three-phase process through which students learn how to capitalize on different perspectives, within the classroom. We distinguish between the following phases, taking place in the classroom:

Sensitizing students to their own frame of reference and the existing diversity in the classroom, and creating a safe learning environment to do so;

Engaging students to interact constructively with different perspectives present in the classroom

Optimizing every students’ learning process by capitalizing on different perspectives.

An essential element in these three phases is an inclusive learning climate. Having an inclusive learning climate is a precondition for the process, but it is also strengthened by the interventions in each phase. Progressing from one phase to the next may sometimes happen automatically, as there are processes that will occur naturally over time. However, more often, conscious interventions are needed to move through these phases to reach the final phase, where the potential of the mixed classroom is used fully.

For each phase, the model offers goals, conditions and practical interventions that teachers can initiate in a classroom setting. Of course, in practice this is not a strictly linear process; the phases can overlap and can be cyclical. Going through the three phases can take a single lesson, or an entire year, depending for example on course content, formal learning goals and group dynamics. As every phase has its own added value to the learning process, we define the added value of going through each of the phases.