Story: students suited as teachers?

Engaging student-teachers is a method to ease teachers' workload and improve the quality of education. An increasing number of opportunities are emerging to facilitate student-teaching at the VU, and the students are eager to grasp these opportunities.

Case in point, the first EduBadges were proudly awarded at the VU Amsterdam a month ago, making us the second university to issue this nationally recognized diploma to its students. The "Students as Teachers training" is meaningful because it enables student-teachers to teach a tutorial with self-confidence and professional skill, so that they can be deployed to a greater extent. In this way, the added value of involving student-teachers in education can be fully realized, benefiting not only the student-teachers, but also their fellow students, fellow teachers and the university.

The driving force behind Students as Teachers
Within the VU Amsterdam, the Students as Teachers project is part of the longer-running and more extensive Students as Partners project. The idea of Students as Partners is for education to once again become a shared responsibility of teachers and students, taking joint ownership of the learning process and programme. This project is led by Sjirk Zijlstra of the VU Centre for Teaching & Learning and is a response to the still untouched potential of the VU in terms of involving students in education. The Students as Teachers training at the VU has been established by Klaas de Zwaan, who is also the project manager of the national “StudentKwalificatieOnderwijs-project" (StudentQualificationEducation-project). This is a partnership between universities, higher education institutions and the government and it aims to introduce students to teaching in a responsible and professional way.

"The idea of Students as Partners is for education to once again become a shared responsibility of teachers and students, taking joint ownership of the learning process and programme."

A win-win for everyone

Advantages for the student-teachers
Research shows that employing student-teachers has many advantages, which also manifested themselves at the VU Amsterdam. Firstly, it has benefits for the student-teachers, as student-teachers Mette Hooijbrink, Tara Rezvani Daryan and Oumaima el Ouarit have experienced. Before participating in the training, the three of them relied on intuition when teaching, what they longed for however was confirmation that they were doing it right. The training provided them with this confirmation (and thus self-confidence), but also with new knowledge and skills. Through discussion with fellow student-teachers, the self-reflection report and the peer review, they can now offer higher quality and more activating tutorials to students, and also create a safer learning environment. Through Students as Teachers, Tara and Oumaima definitely see themselves pursuing a teaching career after their studies. Mette even discovered that, contrary to her expectations, teaching is one of her passions.

Advantages for the peer students
Student-teachers and students can relate to each other; there is a small age difference, and the student teachers understand what the students are experiencing. On top of this, the threshold for students to approach student-teachers instead of teachers is lower. Student-teacher Oumaima shared how her students often come to her during the break and after class, not only with questions about the subject matter, but also with questions about studying in general and Oumaima's personal studying experience. This approach allows students to find inspiration in their student-teacher and view them as role models, fostering a sense of empowerment and motivation. It also creates a collaboration built on mutual respect. How delightful is it to receive an email from a student after an exam thanking you for passing the exam?

Advantages for the teachers
The aforementioned benefits have positive effects on the teachers and VU Amsterdam as a whole. For instance, there will be a lower workload for lecturers because more students will want to teach, during their studies and afterwards. Teaching can also be offered for smaller classes. On top of this, student-teachers are cheaper and more flexible than full-time lecturers. Besides this, it provides teachers with a sparring partner, opportunities to gain new perspectives and enable them to observe a tutorial, instead of giving them (and learn from everything that they see played out). Taken together, this elevates the quality of education for everyone involved - both teachers and students.

The future of Students as Teachers at VU Amsterdam
The aspiration of the Students as Teachers project is that every faculty (or even programme) has its own Students as Teachers training programme. In this way, more student-teachers can be trained, and the training can suit the specific needs of the programmes and faculties. The VU Centre for Teaching & Learning assumes a facilitating role in this, for example by developing the training programmes, creating a guide and training the trainers. If the idea of Students as Teachers appeals to you(r subject/training/faculty), please contact Klaas de Zwaan (k.de.zwaan@vu.nl). We would also like to invite you to information sessions that will be held after the summer. You can apply via Klaas de Zwaan (k.de.zwaan@vu.nl).

There are other projects that focus on involving students in teaching besides Students as Teachers. Take a look at the webpages below to get inspired:

These are however not the only initiatives which shift the responsibility between students and teachers. Many projects initiated at VU Amsterdam are part of Students as Partners. Keep an eye on the Students as Partners webpage for more stories, ideas, and information.

Sharing experiences, sharing wisdom
Sharing ownership, sharing enlightenment
Sharing responsibility, sharing joy

Story: students suited as teachers?

"The idea of Students as Partners is for education to once again become a shared responsibility of teachers and students, taking joint ownership of the learning process and programme."

Shared responsibility within VU-education