Education
ESoE offers training programs for teachers in the fields of sciences and technology.
Master program Science Education and Communication
The three technical universities of the Netherlands (3TU) jointly offer a Science Education and Communication (SEC) master program.
The program educates students to become academic professionals who combine theoretical knowledge about learning and teaching in the domain of science with competences necessary for applying this knowledge in educational practice, doing scientific research and solving educational problems in practice.
The SEC program combines subject-matter and educative courses, the subject-matter courses being part of regular master programs of the TU/e Science and Engineering departments. In the students’ research projects these subject-matter and educative aspects are integrated. Student graduation projects are closely related to the research of the staff and the PhD students of ESoE.
This two year program was positively accredited in the beginning of 2008 by the Dutch accreditation organization NVAO and started for the first time in the academic year 2008-2009. The master is open to chemistry, mathematics, physics and computer science students.
The minor program
The educational minor for TU/e students started in January 2008. It offers TU/e bachelor students the opportunity to orient themselves on the teaching profession and aspects in the field of communication. Halfway through the minor the students choose for a specialization in either education or communication. In both fields they get the occasion to gain practical experience apart from the theory offered at ESoE.
In September 2009 academic ‘educative minors’ in The Netherlands were allowed by law to offer a teachers' degree for the lower levels of secondary education in the Dutch educational system. ESoE offers this degree to bachelor students in mathematics, chemistry, physics and computer science. ESoE therefore distiguishes two tracks in the program:
- Track I: the original minor ‘Education and Communication’ open to all TU/e bachelor students.
- Track II: the new ‘educative’ program open to bachelor students in the TU/e programs in mathematics, physics, chemistry and computer science, leading to a teachers' degree.
Both tracks start together. Later on the tracks substantially differ: students in track II will gain much more experience in practical school work, in line with what a teacher has to learn. As a consequence, their guidance at ESoE and in schools also differs then.
