Language across the curriculum: how research and teaching collaborate to enhance language education in Heerlen

The researchers are closely monitoring the process. Under the supervision of Professor Trudie Schils, Vera is investigating, among other things, whether students better understand exam questions and how teachers experience the new approach.

“We already know quite a lot about language education in primary education,” says Vera, “but in secondary education this field is still largely unexplored. Because teachers change classes more often and subjects are more separated, support and collaboration are particularly important.”

The project is therefore not only focused on results within Bernardinuscollege, but also on developing promising approaches that other schools can use.

In the future, the TaalLab also aims to investigate the approach at other schools, possibly vmbo, and several schools have already expressed interest in participating in follow-up research.

“Within this project we are trying, in co-creation with Bernardinuscollege, to develop a promising approach that can later be expanded to pilot schools. Some schools have already expressed interest in participating. Subsequently, effect studies can be carried out to examine whether the approach works well.”

Vera Ronda, PhD candidate at Maastricht University, School of Business and Economics

According to Professor Trudie Schils, who is involved in the Education Lab, this project fits perfectly within the broader mission of the School of Business and Economics.

“To develop an approach that truly works within a school, collaboration is essential. In co-creation between researchers and teachers we arrive at an approach that is grounded in insights from both research and educational practice. That is why co-creation and collaboration are such important factors in evidence-informed working. The contributions of researchers and teachers complement each other, creating genuine added value together. Within the Ontwikkelkracht programme, schools receive space, time and knowledge (supported by funding from the National Growth Fund) to work together to improve education sustainably. We collaborate with schools across the country. Many projects are concentrated in the Randstad, so we are particularly pleased with the collaboration with Bernardinuscollege here in the region.”

The collaboration with Bernardinuscollege demonstrates how valuable it is to work from a concrete question arising from practice. In this way, knowledge is developed that is both academically robust and directly useful for students and teachers. Over the coming months, the first research results will be collected and discussed within the TaalLab. Based on these results, the approach will be further refined. If the positive developments continue, the approach will be rolled out to other schools in the region.