Senior Teaching Qualification Award - Georgiana Bӑlӑu
On the 21st of January, twenty-one dedicated teachers were awarded their Senior Teaching Qualification (SKO). Our esteemed colleague, Dr. Georgiana Bӑlӑu, was one of them. Below she shares her experience. By Georgiana Bӑlӑu | 23-01-2025
Working towards the SKO
Having more than 7 years of teaching experience acquired in the International Studies programme, I took the step of applying for the Senior Teaching Qualification (STQ)/Senior Kwalificatie Onderwijs (SKO) as a timely opportunity to reflect on my own teaching vision and learning, in a broad sense, and the STQ/SKO offers this opportunity.
Being very grateful for the support received from the International Studies programme to follow the STQ/SKO trajectory, it is certainly a path of further discoveries in a continuous effort to ensure high-quality results for students as I always consider them at the center of all my teaching activities. I always strive to bring my contribution to refine/develop students’ academic abilities and social skills to become academically engaged professionals and socially engaged citizens. Graduates equipped with both academic abilities and social skills may respond knowledgeably to address the challenges posed by a dynamic job/labour market. Academically engaged professionals and socially engaged citizens represent a win for any society.
About the SKO Trajectory
The STQ/SKO trajectory offers a valuable journey with various insights, and enriches your perspectives on teaching, providing also a rewarding chance to learn from other colleagues from different Faculties too. I very much enjoyed the discussion with colleagues, and the peer feedback. Notably, I enjoyed especially the STQ/SKO Inspiration Sessions. It is during the STQ/SKO Inspiration Sessions that the importance of constructive alignment became more salient to me. Constructive alignment is an approach to curriculum design in which learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, and assessment are integrated to create conditions for high-level learning (Gallagher 2017); these three elements need to be aligned for learning. These insights further inform and guide my vision on teaching and learning which is constantly nurtured through fostering students’ transferable skills – considering students as participants rather than passive actors (i.e., audience) in the process of learning, strengthening a diversity of (international) perspectives – and through encouraging creative learning and critical thinking.