Walter Geerts & René van Kralingen - The Teachers' Handbook

Prologue

We have been educating future teachers with lots of enthusiasm and enjoyment for many years. Inevitably we have also encountered some bottlenecks. We fre quently noticed, for instance, that newly educated teachers were able to cope well at the start of their career, but lacked the necessary tools to establish long term growth later on. We were struck by the realisation that, in order to ensure the teaching career remains satisfying and effective, it is of utmost importance for teachers to continue to develop beyond completion of their degree in education. This handbook meets the needs of future teachers who require tools to connect theory and practice throughout their studies, enabling them to create well-developed lessons. After all, it takes more than learning the ‘tricks of the trade’ to become a qualified teacher. As a new teacher you obviously need to learn how to establish specific routines and procedures. However, you should also be able to see the world from a different perspective and acknowledge your lack of knowledge or even your mistakes, for that matter. It is this realisation that enables you to develop new perspectives and new insights. Sometimes new in sights contradict previously acquired knowledge, but it is precisely these con frontations and dilemmas which offer learning potential. Ultimately, the neces sity of making deliberate choices sparks reconsideration and deepening of your own unique identity. This is the process which continues to intrigue us as educa tors and which keeps the teaching profession interesting. We would not have been able to write this handbook without valuable input from colleagues who allowed us to witness their students’ growth process. Their feedback resulted in an improved and longer second edition, which we believe is more readable and coherent. In the additional two chapters – Chapters 12 and 13 – we take an in-depth look at the specialisation in teaching in secondary voca tional education: VMBO and MBO. Undoubtedly, there is nothing more important than a good start. Our starting point was the publisher, Michel van de Graaf, who encouraged us to write this book. In The Teachers’ Handbook we have bundled our experiences. The video casts displayed on the Didiclass website were a major source of inspiration: they encouraged thoughtful involvement due to their authentic focus on day-to-day teaching life. We aim to provide a close picture of the classroom reality and hope to clarify common scenarios in the world of learning, the classroom, the school and education in general.

Walter Geerts & René van Kralingen January 2018