Annerieke van de Beld succesfully defended her thesis for the Master of Educational Studies program today 29th of July, 2022. The question of the thesis was whether the introduction of a Professional Learning Community would help transforming schools within a foundation for primary education towards learning organizations. The idea was that this introduction could improve the quality of education within the schools, which is much needed, given the assessments made by the Inspectorate of Education.
A scan of characteristics of the existing Professional Learning Community was conducted, which was followed by semi-structured interviews and an internal organization analysis. The results showed that the current organization hardly implements principles of a Professional Learning Community, but that the further introduction thereof would be very promising.
Recommendations were to 1. to create a shared vision on learning; 2. to invest in professional development activities for all co-workers; 3, to practice cooperative working and learning; 4. to change the school organization; 5. to use learning leadership.
Congratulations Annerieke and thanks Dr. Joachim Wetterling for supervising this student.
