What is social entrepreneurship ?

This is the question that we put to the participants on the final day of a training course held in Rotterdam, autumn 2016. The Training Course was organised within the framework of a European project entitled Sustain Your Life through Social Entrepreneurship. The project was co-funded by the Erasmus + programme of the EU.

Here's what some of the participants said:

This video, as well as the following two, was edited by Jeroen Wouters, lecturer at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.

Here's another videoclip giving you a glimpse of what the participants to the T C saw during the course by way of field visits.

Finally, this is where you can hear some of the participants expressing what they learned during the training course on social and cultural entrepreneurship:

Curious to read and see more ? Here's a link to the open e-learning portal website that resulted from the project as one of the outputs.
If you click the button Training Programmes you get access to all of the activities that were provided to a total of nearly 80 participants during three organised training courses held in three different countries across the two years' run of the project.

Disclaimer: The EC support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

TC Rotterdam, in retrospect

First of all a big thank you to the trainer, the speakers and the participants for turning the training course held here in Rotterdam, within the school of social work, into such a wonderful experience for all involved.
It was a truly astonishing event.

  The aim of the training course was to equip participants with the entrepreneurial tools and basics of business and financial management models for social enterprises. By visiting a diversity of good practices in Rotterdam and its surroundings participants got acquainted with the decision making processes of the social entrepreneurs involved.  By comparing and contrasting the participants established what the key success factors are for sustainable social and cultural entrepreneurship in order to achieve lasting positive social impact.

 

The stresses currently experienced by various social systems around the world regarding health, welfare, pensions, education, and so on, present a wide range of opportunities for social business to innovate in core products and services. Young people or the millennial generation will increasingly be required to define new initiatives grounded in social purpose and decide on business models that deliver sustainable, profitable growth creating positive impact to solve the complex challenges that our planet faces.

 

The 28 participants from Romania, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands learned how to proceed from  a personal passion or personal needs to a realistic business plan or model with social value, knowing what steps to take and expect the unexpected.

 

   

Although all came with an open mind, they were far from empty-headed: they shared their expertise, exchanged ideas, debated key issues and built on each other's plans and projects. 


 

Here are some of the participants' statements:

Of course there are some differences between the countries, but in reality the core values and the motivation that all the people in this room have are the same, the strength and the will to be part of the change and improve our work. In this training course we are learning (and that is very important) to be practical. (Italian participant)

 
This training course has given me the possibility to see a different point of view, to create a  new method that is useful to become more active in my work. The EU has given me the opportunity to see what there is outside of my own country.(Italian participant)

 
This TC is bringing me new skills, new contacts and new networks, to develop a stronger core value proposition for our association in Spain so that we can become more sustainable and face the new challenge of reaching Europe within 3 years. This TC has opened so many new doors for me personally and also for my project. I really believe we can do better together. (Spanish participant)

 I had a great experience, learned so much and had a lot of fun with you! This international group has helped me a lot because different people have different ideas. (Dutch participant)

Hi everyone :) I hope all of you are now safe back home and relaxing from this complex and full immersion week! I wanted to thank all of you for voting for Portugal on the final project presentation through choosing my project and personal dream :)  I hope to able to invite all of you in the future one day. When I will open this centre for the community, I'll have all of you in mind for sure. It was a great pleasure to meet so many interesting people and an inspiration to be with you all this past week. I already miss the walk from Witte de With to go to the Uni in the cold morning =)  Thank you amazing team!
I wish you all great success and new social business to pop up soon :)
(Final message from Portuguese participant)

  Guess what, next Sunday I will facilitate a 2h workshop about social impact of social entrepreneurship. Now ...after my Rotterdam experience I have input!
(after returning home, from a Romanian participant)

For our Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences it was a great experience to host such a dedicated group of youth and social workers from around Europe. That makes me think of something Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.”

Note added about a month later:
here's a message from one of the participants. "Dear people! I just wanted to share with you that a foundation just gave us a grant to develop a social entrepreneurship formation during 6 months in rural areas with design thinking techniques. So I will try my best inspiring new people to "sustain their lives through social entrepreneurship".

Training Course to be held in Rotterdam

Here's the poster for the upcoming Training Course in Social and Cultural Entrepreneurship.
We are looking forward to receiving 28 participants here within the School of Social Work at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, location Museumpark.
The trainer will be Marianne Lindhout.

Take a quick look at a small image of the announcements on the poster here

This training course is part of a series of 3 training courses held within the framework of an Erasmus + project under the title of Sustain Your Life through Social Entrepreneurship, a two-year European project co-funded by the Erasmus + programme of the European Union.

Looking forward to meeting you all here at our venue, kind regards from the Rotterdam team.

Can & Do , a TC in retrospect

Last July Palermo was the venue for a European Training Course that brought together 32 youth workers, youth leaders, youth advisors & peer educators, staff of intermediary organizations and social activists working with young people. Participants from 12 different European countries took part in an 8-day training course that was based on the themes of entrepreneurship, innovation, culture, creativity and the development of a “can-do” attitude.

The basic rationale behind the Training Course was that young human and social capital can be enhanced by unfolding essential aspects of an entrepreneurial and innovative culture, by developing a “can-do” attitude and applying creative methods to attain this.

All TC activities were carried out through non-formal and informal methodologies, such as the Reciprocal Maieutic Approach (RMA) as well as creative thinking and learning approaches through art. Apart from this, some theoretical sessions were integrated, in an interactive mode. The main outcome can be described as an enhanced understanding of European themes like youth unemployment in our knowledge-based society and economy, human and social capital, sustainability and inclusion.  But also a better understanding of how to apply non-formal education methods with youngsters in developing a more creative, innovative and entrepreneurial spirit leading to self-confidence and a can-do attitude.

Apart from this, it must be said that participation in European training courses like these generally tend to lead to a better understanding of how other European countries struggle with similar issues and tackle, in this case, youth unemployment. Acquiring  broader perspectives on common European issues is an important step towards more solidarity and inclusion in times like these where Europe is faced with a number of difficult issues and has to conquer numerous challenges.

Once again we saw two participants (Amina and Nicky) returning home to our university of applied sciences with fresh ideas and an enriching experience due to the CAN & DO training course. For this we’d like to express our thanks here to the TC coordinator, Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo “Danilo Dolci” (Italy) as well as the other participants from Azerbaijan, Georgia , Greece, Moldavia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine.

This TC was made possible with funds from Erasmus+, KA1 : Learning Mobility of Individuals, more specifically mobility of youth workers.

Here are some photos of the session where our 2 participants shared their experiences in the course and disseminated what they’d learned during the TC in Palermo. 

An American adventure in Rotterdam, preceding the H C 2013

The Honours Conference on October 3 and 4 was a great experience: that's the general comment from all who attended this get-together of honours students and honours lecturers. A one-off new event. New, that is to say : new at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.

Just by browsing / reading the Live Magazine below one gets a fairly good impression of what went on and how inspiring the event was. One thing is for sure: a missed opportunity for those who did not attend, such as myself.

Preceding the conference, there was a masterclass on October 2nd that was undoubtedly just as inspiring as the conference itself. It was announced as ROTTERDAM CITY AS TEXT™ - an American adventure in Rotterdam, the very first of its kind in the Netherlands.

Probably best described as a pedagogy that emphasizes the strength of experiental or active learning, the participants were invited to "read Rotterdam as a text" by having a walkabout through Rotterdam districts. Having studied the materials underpinning this approach, all of us ventured into the Afrikaanderplein market and later into specific inner district areas to explore and attempt to map the city areas as they came across at that particular moment in time: looking at Rotterdam with fresh eyes, observing and defining our own maps in order to share afterwards what we had discovered.

Apart from it being a fun experience to undergo, it was the collaborative and integrated approach that was fascinating: participants from diverse backgrounds shared their interpretations and perspectives, offering alternative explanations. In the debriefing sessions the participants' views came together and by reflecting on them there were many surprising insights. My overall impression was that for each and everyone who attended this event it had been a personally enriching experience. The masterclass was in the capable hands of two American professors: Dr. Bernice Braid and Dr. Sara Quay.
In case this has whetted your appetite, a succinct description of the City as Text pedagogy can be found here.

For international students coming to Rotterdam for a semester, this active learning experience could be just the kind of kick off  for any or all of the exchange or course programmes. It will engage students in a site specific experiential voyage of discovery that fosters critical inquiry and at the same time allows students to learn across many disciplines ! An advantage that they will benefit from for the rest of their lives.

As Umberto Eco puts it: The world is a book that demands to be read like a book.

(Pictures will be added at a later stage.)

Social Work Brugge visits Rotterdam with more than 100 students

A contribution in Dutch by guest blogger: Johan Bertels from Belgium

Het eerste jaar Sociaal Werk uit Brugge trok van 6 tot 8 mei naar de Hogeschool Rotterdam om er samen met Nederlandse studenten te werken rond Inter Cultural Learning (ICL).  Dit aan de hand van interactieve en ervaringsgerichte  Non Formal Education Methoden.  Zij werden vergezeld door 5 docenten en een collega van de University of South Wales (UK) .  Vlaamse en Nederlandse studenten die daarvoor kozen, konden de module dan ook in het Engels volgen.   De groep werd ook vergezeld door een onderzoeker  die participerend observeerde.  Daarnaast werden ook alle studenten bevraagd over hun ICL ervaring, dit in het kader van het onderzoek “Visies, concepten en drempels in het intercultureel leren” van het Thucydides fonds.

De opleiding Sociaal Werk koos voor Rotterdam als locatie om het ICL verhaal te brengen omwille van de meerwaarde van de grote diversiteit in de stad en aan de Hogeschool.  Voor toekomstige sociaal werkers is het zeer belangrijk om met diversiteit te kunnen omgaan.  Op de laatste dag namen de Nederlandse studenten de HOWEST studenten in kleine groepjes met het openbaar vervoer mee naar de multiculturele wijken en buurten.   Ook het verblijf in Maritime hotel – het vroegere zeemanshuis – droeg bij tot de ontmoeting met andere culturen.   Met deze  “massa-mobiliteit” proeven de eerste jaars voor het eerst van een korte, maar intense internationale ervaring.  De gemeenschappelijke taal zou hierbij een drempelverlagend effect moeten hebben, maar toch bleken we vaak een “anders soort”  Nederlands  te spreken, wat regelmatig tot grappige  misverstanden aanleiding gaf.      

Impressions from a Finn in Rotterdam

By special guest blogger: Juha Makkonen

I did my Erasmus teacher exchange at Hogeschool Rotterdam from April 10 to 16th, 2013. During the first two days of my visit I took part in the INVEST project meeting and had a possibility to participate in workshops and interesting visits. We had great discussions about how to encourage volunteer workers, what kind of funding possibilities there exist and how we can create more networks in Europe. It was also a really eye opening experience to see how much voluntary work is done in the Netherlands and what a large impact it has on the whole society.

On Thursday I also had my own lessons with two different student groups. The content of my first lesson was about the history of Finland and how it currently affects the social situation of Finland. I also I made a comparison of the situation of Finland and the Netherlands and heard several good points of view from the students. The other lesson I had was about youth policy and a specific youth guarantee in Finland. The students of both groups were very active and the civic knowledge of them appeared to be of a high level.

During the weekend I participated in the "10 KM LOOP" which was part of the Rotterdam Marathon event. The event itself was a good example of the huge number of arrangements which were made in a short time. And mostly done by volunteers.

On the last days of my visit there were professionalisation days for the staff. I was in the group which visited RadarUitvoering. We heard about the new concepts and plans they have concerning both the financing and managing the activities. We also met former students of the School of Social Work and realized how much they have managed to change their approaches and practices while working for RadarUitvoering.

Overall, I had a most pleasant visit in Rotterdam. I heard that several lecturers in the School of Social Work have been thinking about a visit to Finland during the next school year. I am looking forward to welcoming guests from Hogeschool Rotterdam and provide them as fruitful visit in Finland as possible.

Senior lecturer mr. Juha Makkonen

Humak University of Applied Sciences, Finland

International week in Rotterdam

Last week had an international flavour: all year 4 students of the programme in social work & services focused on the global theme of human rights.
The week kicked off with lectures by Hilary Jenkinson , Lydia Sapouna and Mary Wilson from our partner university, the Applied Social Studies programme at University College Cork, Ireland.


All week discussions of articles from the universal declaration of human rights took centre stage, in relation to the contributions a social worker can make. All this inspired by the global agenda.
The week was rounded off by individual one-minute elevator pitches in which students expressed their personal views on the value or the principles of human rights.
Here's one example of such an elevator pitch: (posted and shared on a tumblr site kept by one of the lecturers involved) : http://socworkrotterdam.tumblr.com/post/45699975857/glenda-roseval-on-social-work-and-human-rights
or to be watched here:

Signing an MoU

It was Thursday October 18th when rector Glenn Thode of the University of Aruba and managing director Jeroen Oversier of our School of Social Work at Rotterdam University signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the presence of Juliet Chieuw, quality assurance officer, Peter Canrinus, educational manager, and Anja Stofberg, international coordinator.

The MoU establishes a common framework of cooperation, consultation and exchange of information to promote and facilitate exchanges. At the same time, it also underlines the importance of increasing international activity within our school of social work as well as within the department of Social Work and Development of the FAS (the Faculty of Arts and Science at UA).

The signature is a follow up of the talks and visits that took place over the last 12 months. Both in the Netherlands as well as in Aruba, talks always took place in a very positive atmosphere (see earlier blog posts here and here) and the closing statements usually expressed that future collaboration steps looked promising as both parties can benefit a lot from each other's expertise, approach and network.Interestingly, it was pointed out that small though the island of Aruba is, it can play a huge role as international hub in its surrounding area, a fascinating current development that is taking place in our increasingly globalising world that we are preparing our students for. So, now it's time to start planning in more detail !

 

My Erasmus learning experience in Rotterdam

By guest editor Rosemary from Ireland

Although there are clear educational benefits to be gained from going on student Erasmus exchange, it is not the only reason to take part. The course in itself, gave me a different perspective. It was more European and it was interesting to compare two countries. Holland is a very modern and multi-cultural place so you really get to see how they established their state and constitution in a very open minded and liberal manner. We studied subjects such as Global Citizenship and Multiculturalism, which really helped open our minds to modern thinking and understanding of the future’s Education System.

The Erasmus Programme’s origins: Formalised in 1987, the programme was named after the Dutch Renaissance philosopher Desiderius Erasmus, who was a keen proponent of pan-European study as a means to ensure that education did not become dogmatic. By offering European students the opportunity to experience a different education system, the Erasmus programme hopes to encourage a pluralistic approach to learning and, consequently, improve the education available to all EU citizens. I agree that the Erasmus experience certainly improved my understanding of education and has helped me in my approach to my third year of study in Montessori Education with confidence.

Hogeschool Rotterdam is one of the best colleges in Europe, so the standard of teaching and the standard of the students were really great, so I have improved greatly in critical thinking and essay formatting. Nevertheless, it was outside the lecture environment that I felt the biggest gains were made. I feel much more comfortable now than I maybe would have perhaps before X-mas because you really do have no choice but to come out of your shell a bit more and take part in putting yourself outside of your comfort zone. This personal development side of Erasmus is certainly something that I benefited from the programme. I feel I have matured and gained better independence. Basically I have learned how to do things independently for the first time by myself; I didn’t have my normal support structures such as friends and family to rely on. A lot of the students in my class also had some great travel opportunities. While in The Netherlands, you’re only a short train ride away from another country and so a lot of my classmates have gone home with some great travel stories. My fellow student and I visited other Erasmus students from our class to Leuven, Belgium which was so much fun and easy to do.

I cannot express enough how valuable this experience was both for me personally and educationally. I have made some really great friends who have all left me with open invites to come visit them when I would like. I have grown so much in such a short amount of time which leaves me to appreciate that I am capable of so much as a future teacher and Montessorian. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity and for believing in me to successfully complete and appreciate the Erasmus Programme. It was really “Prima.!”

A Final Goodbye

Last week we said goodbye to the last group of international students who participated in this year's edition of the International Class in Bridging Cultures in Multicultural Rotterdam. These were the students who had decided to stay on for an additional two-month period to do independent studies, either an internship type of study programme or a survey based on literature study. Here are some photos of that final get-together where also the certificates were handed out.

Shortly before this final goodbye, news had reached the coordinators that next year there will be no International Class. Internally, our university needs some time to reconsider the concept of international education offered to students from our partner universities. Whether that will mean an end to the collaboration between the School of Education and the School of Social Work, nobody knows. So for now, all we can say is: last week was also goodbye to the international class for the coordinators.

getting to know NL through statistics

Coming to the Netherlands soon ? Here is a short video to prepare you !
Generally speaking, loads of statistics are produced by the Statistics Netherlands Bureau (CBS) on a daily basis. But now part of this info is brought to you in an enjoyable (under 2-minute) video clip that will make this country a little more familiar to you.



In 1.5 minutes, this explanimation shows the Netherlands by numbers on a normal day. How many babies are born, how many people die, how many people get married or divorced, and how many move house?
For those who'd like to know more, the CBS site also provides worthwhile information in English.
In case this has whetted your appetite, here's more to familiarise yourself with all things Dutch:

Resources and interesting links

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Hosting a delegation from Aruba

A unique phenomenon in our School of Social Work: two international visiting delegations in one and the same week ! As our internationalisation strategies are really paying off at the moment, we were happy to receive two different delegations from two different continents, both interested in cooperation. Not only did we have visitors from Turkey on Tuesday (see my earlier blog post), but this week we were also visited by a delegation from the University of Aruba, who had come to Rotterdam at the invitation of our (former) managing director of the School of Social Work, Rob Elgershuizen.
Most unfortunately, however, on departure, the delegation fell apart due to a serious hitch at Aruba airport. Although this was felt as a drawback, the faculty dean Paula Kibbelaar succeeded admirably in making the most of her visit in Rotterdam on her own. We got well acquainted with the setting, perspectives and history of the University of Aruba, the Faculty of Arts & Science and the bachelor degree programme in Social Work and Development.

Before arrival we had been approached with an extensive list of factual and probing questions to which the talks during the visit would hopefully provide answers. On the final day we could establish that we had come a long way over the past few days and that a lot of progress had been made in familiarising ourselves with each other's organisations, contexts, themes and issues. This had indeed been the objectives of the visit from the start.
Both parties agreed that a win win situation was something we should strive for. And so it was decided that each partner was to draw up their own list of interesting and viable opportunities to cooperate on, in consultation with their own departments and staff. As the common ground and many parallels have been identified during the final meeting, each party will make up their own mind and exchange the lists in the near future. A further meeting will then follow soon to enhance and consolidate this process in order to have some firm plans before the end of the year.

Hacettepe University delegation visits Rotterdam

Today we received two visitors from the social work department at Hacettepe University, Ankara. It is this university which can pride itself on having the oldest social work department in all of Turkey (presently 51 years old). We learned that the 1999 Marmara earthquake led to an increase in the demand for social workers, which led in turn to an expansion of social work course programmes across the country. There was a clear need for individual counselling which could help people gain awareness about their problems and gain the skills to use their inner resources to cope with the after-quake issues.
We were told that much like other departments in Turkish universities the social work course programme was American-oriented. Another important influence came from (writer, academic and consultant on social work) Malcolm Payne, who, by the way, among many other things, keeps a fascinating blog site on Self positioning I found out just now.
Most social work graduates in Turkey find jobs in organisations under the ministry of social policies, the ministry of health or the ministry of justice. Apart from that, social workers can also find employment in private social work organisations and NGO's. We were told that there is a real need for social workers at the moment as the number of qualified social workers is low.

It was all in all a good opportunity to get to know each other a lot better and explore opportunities to cooperate with each other. Trying to establish opportunities for sustainable cooperation we decided to start with teaching staff mobility, starting this year. By constructively embedding the perspectives of the other partner in current courses lecturers as well as students on either side can benefit. And this can be arranged on an annual basis for example. Opening up opportunities for student exchange on a reciprocal basis was another idea that was explored, next to organising studytrips to each other's countries. Altogether we had fruitful discussions !

Trends in social work

As part of the regular course programme in social educational care work (in Dutch: SPH)students were asked to identify national and international trends in social work and subsequently write articles about these developments. Some examples of this output was harvested by a few lecturers and passed on to interested colleagues.
One group had approached this assignment in an interesting and professional manner. They shared the magazine they had edited in a pdf format on the web, click here to have a look. And on top of that they set up a facebook group.
A fascinating development to see students applying the digital tools freely available on the web of their own accord.

Clipped from: issuu.com (share this clip)

Issuu was a well chosen platform as it has become a popular free outlet for online magazine publishing and allows clean pages and rapid loading of documents with unique urls for your documents. Well done, a great example of "inside out", providing the outside world with products composed inside university walls!
And here's another collection of international and national trends which was edited into a magazine called The Trendwatcher. Sorry, international readers... the articles were written in Dutch.

Norwegian strategies introduced at this year's symposium

How can young people find their way through the jungle of persons and systems ? A question asked here in the Netherlands, but also in Norway.
It's become a tradition at our university of applied sciences by now to hold an annual symposium on approaches to dropout prevention.
Apart from a number of Dutch presenters, this year two Norwegian speakers from the south eastern Vestfold region outlined what steps they had taken to tackle the issues of dropout and talent development of all youngsters. A 10-year action programme that started in 2008 has already shown some progress, we were told. The coordinator of this action programme (Mr Eldar Dybvik) and a member of the steering committee (Mr Thorbjorn Nygaard) explained how many of the stakeholders had come together to cooperate for the benefit of the 20 % young people that still drop out of school, despite a variety of earlier measures.
"United we stand. Divided we fall" is the motto of the cooperation agreement between schools, the labour union, the police, the social security system, nurses, the world of enterprise, the parents and the young people themselves.
When young people drop out of school, they —and society at large— face multiple negative consequences, which makes it worthwhile working on all kinds of preventive approaches.
Have a look at the slides and compare the Norwegian methods with the ones Rotterdam has put into place.

Norwegian strategies

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Here's also a visual report of the symposium.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Interestingly, a DJ team called 'Freestyle Party Machine' had put together an appropriate music selection for this occasion: all 20 songs had a link to education and/or youngsters;)

World Social Work Day in Rotterdam

Today social workers around the world joined together to celebrate World Social Work Day on March 15, 2011. This annual event, celebrated on the third Tuesday in March, focuses on social work contributions to society and is part of an on-going dialogue about how to address challenging social conditions worldwide.
Here's a short speech by the president of IFSW:

World Social Work Day 2011: Message from IFSW President Gary Bailey, MSW, ACSW from IFSW on Vimeo.

The theme for this year's Social Work Day 2011 was “Social Work voices responding to global crises: Together we develop the Agenda!“
And this challenge was taken up here in Rotterdam within our School of Social Work.
The mission of the social work profession and the development of social policy are rooted in a set of core values. These core values, embraced by social workers, social work educators and policy practitioners and developers the world over, are the foundation of social work’s unique purpose and perspective.
In June 2010, at the global social work conference in Hong Kong, three key social work organisations at the global level initiated a discussion to develop a Global Agenda for social work and social development, a common Global Agenda for years to come, articulating a set of common goals. The challenges which are collectively faced at present are so enormous that there is an overwhelming need for a united voice and solidarity.
What started in Hong Kong was the beginning of a process of shared engagement among social work and social development practitioners and social work educators the world over.
With this in mind we planned to have the kick-off for the joint social work module for all year 1 students on today's World Social Work Day.

From many sides an appeal had been made to encourage all classes in schools of social work around the world, service agencies, other sites where social work and social development organisations are involved and communities linked to social work and social development to discuss and comment on the Global Agenda. And this opportunity was seized by a number of people within our university, not only by way of a big event for all year 1 students, but also by stimulating all lecturers to pay attention to the issue in their lessons. A learning package with tips and suggestions was developed specifically for that purpose, with a focus on poverty as the main issue. Now it's time to harvest and analyse all the tips and suggestions for the Global Agenda.
A great and unifying initiative that will remind all involved that social work is truly an international profession practised all over the world and rooted in a common set of core values. Here are some images of the event which took place in the Scottish church in Rotterdam:



And here's a link to how World Social Work Day was celebrated in other countries.

dear international students: welcome to Rotterdam !

This week we could welcome the new group of international students at our Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. And what a large and diverse group it is with students from 10 different countries !
For the kick off we had chosen the 11th floor of the high rise as our venue, which meant that we had an excellent overview of Rotterdam lying at our feet.
Especially Monday and Tuesday we spent time in getting to know each other better by way of ice breakers, games, and all sorts of introductory activities, which was a good start. However, it was the international buddies that had been doing the most important tasks in getting the students landed in Rotterdam after arrival from their respective countries. Collecting them from Schiphol or otherwise, gathering keys, taking them to their accommodation etc.: a big thank you to them!
Later in the week the first lessons were given and the serious work started.
Here's a visual impression of the first Monday meetings:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Last preparations before the start

In the run up to the start of the international class this year, we had a preparatory meeting today with a great number of lecturers who will be teaching part of the programme. It was good to share with each other who was going to teach what over the next 3 months. All in all, there will be around 30 staff members who have taken up the challenge to teach in English.
In the past months it was stimulating to see and hear that so many had responded positively to our appeal to give a few lessons to the coming group of international students. A group (by the way) that has steadily grown over the last few years. When the school of social work joined forces with the social of education a number of years ago, we started out with a small (but highly motivated) group of 7 or 8 students. Since then the numbers have only grown and grown and this year we are expecting around 30 students, although we're still not 100 % sure of the exact number of students turning up.
During this preparatory session we discussed a number of issues, among which: what to expect when teaching in an international classroom. As a teacher / lecturer you are a role model to the students, but students with different cultural backgrounds have had different role models in their respective countries where their teachers employed different styles of teaching. When students are used to one teaching style and their teacher uses a different one, the result can be confusion, dissatisfaction, or cause other problems. This preparatory meeting was also meant to develop awareness of different teaching styles and how they differ from one culture to another.
Generally speaking, many lecturers do not realise that the more casual and accessible approach of Dutch teachers in classroom sessions is completely different compared to the teaching styles in countries like Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Turkey, to name just a few.
For example, when students in their own home education system are primarily taught using a more authoritarian style they may be reluctant to participate in group or pair activities because of fear of making mistakes, or because of the unfamiliarity with the procedures. Students like most people feel uncomfortable with the unknown.
Into our international class will come students of differing cultural
backgrounds and academic histories, bringing with them certain experiences,
attitudes, expectations and preconceptions which constitute their own individual
cultural characteristics. It's then up to the teacher to make sure that the way things are done in the classroom are clearly introduced, explained and clarified when questions arise. It was Geert Hofstede who suggested that there are 2 possible strategies to cope with the perplexities of cross-cultural learning situations: 1. teach the teacher how to teach, and 2. teach the learner how to learn.
He proposed that the focus of the teacher's training should be on learning about his / her own culture: getting intellectually and emotionally accustomed to the fact that in other societies, people learn in different ways.
Here's the presentation I gave:

Preparatory meeting lecturers International Class

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A few hours after the meeting I came across this webpage, succinctly stating a few common issues in international classrooms, a tip !