If you are passionate about education and you enjoy making teaching materials accessible for students, then you may want to enroll in a teacher training programme, after finishing your Bachelor’s programme in Literature and Society.
If you want to join the teacher training programme (Ma level, 2 years), then your proficiency in Dutch must be B2 or higher. But you can also opt for a teacher training programme in an English speaking country. The following text, however, refers to the VU Master’s programme.
During this Master’s programme you will learn to master your subject (teaching English language and literature) at all Dutch high school levels. Of course, you will also learn the tricks of the trade in courses that focus on didactics: how do you activate pupils to really learn something? How do you deal with differences between pupils? And what is the best way to learn a language? What can language education mean for developing citizenship?
When you complete this master you will be a first-degree qualified teacher. This is the highest authority in the Netherlands, with which you can teach in all classes and in all forms of secondary education, from pre-vocational secondary education to pre-university education, and from first-year classes (‘brugklas’) to the final exams.
With this piece of paper in your pocket, you are really an all-round English teacher. And those teachers are desperately needed!
Before you can start this master, you must have sufficient professional knowledge and proficiency in English. In your bachelor's degree in Literature and Society you did not study English from a linguistic perspective, nor did you get acquainted with the role that language plays in society. With this school subject minor you ensure that your linguistic knowledge is at the level needed for studying English at a master's level.
The complete overview of this year's courses can be found in the study guide.