Princeton University has officially launched its website, MAFE: Middle Ages for Educators. MAFE is aimed at university and secondary students and educators and, more broadly, at anyone who is interested in studying, teaching, or learning more about Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Student agency is defined as the ability to increasingly take control of the learning process. It is associated with better grades, well-being, motivation and self-confidence. This research aims to provide teachers tools to stimulate student agency and to monitor its growth.

Everything around us is in motion. Students, the University, technology, society, the labour market and the world. These developments provide an impetus to experiment with new forms of education. This article samples a small selection of the many dozens of innovative educational projects. What is striking…

Many teachers in secondary education take differences between pupils into account . PhD research by Saskia Stollman (ICLON) shows that they need room to experiment and the support of the school management

In the late colonial Netherlands Indies, starting from 1892, homes were set up for the re-education of children. At first by private individuals, later by the government. Much later still, privately funded institutions existed alongside government-funded ones. Annelieke Dirks’ defence on 23 June 201…

On the evening of Tuesday January 31st, the physics institute organizes its triannual meeting for over seventy high school teachers. The program consists of lectures on developments in modern physics and the latest initiatives in the world of education.

The new Education for Professionals portal went live. This is where professionals who want to broaden their horizons will find the complete range of programmes, courses and masterclasses.

English Language and Culture lecturer Mili Gabrovšek has won the Education Award 2015. In the report, the jury praised Gabrovšek's humor and enthusiasm. Each year the award is presented to the most inspiring lecturer of the faculty at the opening of the academic year.

Many students have difficulties to read and give meaning to algebraic formulas. In this study it is explored whether graphing formulas with pen and paper will improve students’ability to reason with algebraic formulas.

If students are to be taught from the viewpoint of several different disciplines, they should first have a firm foundation in one field. They will then be better able to benefit from interdisciplinary teaching than if the teaching combines knowledge and working methods from very different fields. This…

Mariëtte Huizinga, Dorien Graas and Anika Bexkens call attention to learning problems of children with mild intellectual disability in the classroom. Their new book aims to make it easier for teachers to respond to the specific educational needs of these children.

Leiden Professor Richard Griffiths received the Outstanding Educator Award for Innovation during the annual Coursera Partner Conference on 22 March. The conference was hosted by Leiden University in the World Forum in The Hague and was attended by 500 participants from more than a hundred leading universities.…

This dissertation presents the results of the importance of creativity for ICT-students of Dutch universities of applied sciences (in Dutch: hogescholen), and the functioning of training courses that aim to promote creative abilities is highlighted.

Since 2000 the Leiden Student Council (LSR) yearly awards a prize for the best teacher of the university at the Dies Natalis.

Unraveling culturally responsive attitudes, noticing skills, knowledge and reasoned practices of expert teachers.

Higher design and engineering educators have different views on what a new or renewed curriculum should entail, content-wise as well as pedagogically. This research aims to describe how these ‘curriculum perspective perceptions’ influence working definitions, end goal formulation, and the scope of results…

This project studies the theory and practice of moral education in the (Neo)Platonic tradition.

AstroEDU is one of the world's most inspiring education innovations, according to the experts at HundrED. It is a recognition for a place where educators can discover, review, change, and share astronomy- and space-related activities for primary and secondary education, and where they can have their…

In her dissertation, Xiao Ma takes education as a lens to reveal the dynamic relations of three groups of South Koreans – parents, students, and educational agencies – to nation-states of both the origin and arrival. Her study shows the temporality and ambivalence of population movements between two…

In this research project characteristics of effective instructional development were identified that are appealing to medical teachers and relevant for medical education.

In the academic year 2018 - 2019, the Faculty of Humanities established the Educational Innovation Programme. In this way, the faculty wants to realise the ambitions from the educational vision of Leiden University in education. How is the programme currently doing? We talked to project manager Sanne…

How small steps can lead to big change: that was the theme of the Leiden Education Festival. Students and lecturers came to Scheltema on 9 May to share their experiences of educational innovation.

The main interest of this research concerns the beliefs and perceptions of Chinese and Dutch university teachers regarding the role of research in university teaching, and how these beliefs and perceptions can be explained by their cultural, institutional and individual background characteristics.

Universities will be hit hard by the announced cuts to higher education. Essential disciplines and jobs will disappear. And a fine will be introduced for students who take too long over their studies. This will make studying increasingly difficult for young people, especially if they have to work to…

A stretchy sheet over a bowl representing space, a marble on it's surface creating a dimple, deforming space. Simple classroom experiments like these are featured in new educational videos by AstroEDU. In the videos Leiden astronomers Maria Cristina Fortuna and Henk Hoekstra explain what we know of…

How does the religious identity of islamic primary schools in the Netherlands relate to the social demands?

The high number of students that we are used to in the West would never have been possible if Latin were still the language of instruction in our universities. In his PhD defence on 16 September, Bert van Pinxteren will argue that Africa could gain a lot from a similar language switch in secondary e…

We are extremely proud to have won the Excellent Aerospace Education Award of the NLF (Netherlands Aerospace Foundation) for 2017.

Research from weekly magazine Elsevier shows that both the Leiden bachelor Wiskunde as the master Mathematics are rated as the best educational programs of the Netherlands according to professors. The first place was achieved by up to 70% of the votes.

Ahead of the new Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF), the entire European academic world is calling upon Brussels to double the budget for education, research and innovation.

Massive science communication projects should be based on strong and relevant science cases. They should engage with a large number of stakeholders, not only in research, academia, policy, funding and governance but also in less traditional communities, such as the arts field. This is the outcome of…

On 1 March 2020, Jos Schaeken will become the new Dean of the Honours Academy. He is taking over from Ton van Haaften, who is retiring after four years in the post. Here, both Deans give their views on their ambitions, continuity, and the role the students play.

Three in four scientists depicted in primary school science textbooks are men, according to a recent study by Observatory scientist Pedro Russo. In an interview he explains how this might impact children's later careers.

A teacher perspective

During the Faculty of Science New Year's reception, Daniël Rozen was named Discoverer of the year 2015. Nienke van der Marel and Koen van der Maaden both won the prize for the best dissertation and Jeroen van Smeden was named Best Teacher of 2015.

Over a thousand researchers and students protested in Leiden on 2 September against the plans to transfer money to science and technology at the expense of other disciplines. Just metres away, Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven, was giving a speech at the opening of the…

On the next meeting of the Committee of Education and Research three new student representatives will be appointed.

The aim of this thesis was to develop and evaluate a Ecological Professional Development Model to support preservice biology teachers to direct their own subject-specific ecological professional development route.

Dissatisfied older teachers regularly quit teaching before reaching retirement age. In her dissertation, PhD candidate Ietje Veldman advocates specific coaching for this group to retain them for education. PhD defence on September 27th.

This project focuses on vocational teachers’ professional development in work placement. Teachers’ learning motivation, learning experience and learning outcomes within work placement will be explored in depth.

At the New Year’s reception of the Faculty of Science on 6 January, it was announced that Annelien Zweemer, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, has been awarded the ‘Discoverer of the Year 2014’ prize. Matteo Brogi, Leiden Observatory, wrote the best dissertation in 2014 and Dennis Claessen, Institute…

The Minister of Education, Culture and Science has approved the application for the master’s programme in Pharmacy in Leiden. This is an important step on the road to a new master’s programme.