The province of Limburg will be urgently needing more academically-trained teachers in the coming years, in part because many current secondary school teachers are due for retirement. The two universities want to make it easier for both current and prospective teachers to follow academic teacher training in Limburg, so part of their new workplace education programme can be followed in Maastricht.

Continuing a career or starting a new one

The tailor-made programme is intended for both teachers who already teach but do not yet have their ‘first-degree’ qualification, and people who currently work in another sector and want to become teachers. During a workplace education programme of maximum two years they will become qualified teachers of senior secondary education. They will work as paid teachers for three days of the week; on the other two days they will attend class themselves. At least one day a week will be taught in Maastricht. The other day can be followed in Nijmegen or online.

More accessible teacher training

The development of this tailor-made programme fits in with the broader national ambition to make teacher training programmes in the Netherlands more flexible. Matching these programmes to the needs of both existing and prospective teachers will make teacher training more accessible and attractive.

Collaboration between Radboud University and UM 

Radboud University and Maastricht University will work together to provide this tailor-made programme for secondary school teachers. The cooperation between these two universities will be given further shape in the coming years in projects in the field of education and research, academic teacher training, and in the cooperation between Nijmegen and Maastricht’s university medical centres. In 2021, both universities signed a declaration of intent, which will be confirmed in the spring of 2022 in a cooperation agreement.