Educational inequality and teacher shortage in primary schools are two of the main educational challenges in the Netherlands, being the latter a key contributor to the first one. As one would expect, this situation worsened during the Covid-19 outbreak and the period of distance learning. The Open Science Hub project, currently focusing in The Hague - an area with high social and educational demands - wants to support schools in reducing the workload of primary school teachers and increasing the educational opportunities for all students, by increasing the collaboration between primary schools and universities (students and scientific community), while at the same time promoting educational careers for university students.

The program Studenten voor Educatie (part of the EU-funded Open Science Hub project, Het Open Leerplein in Dutch), locally developed in collaboration with the Municipality of The Hague, Stichting Brede Buurtschool and the School Boards in the Hague, aims to support primary schools overcoming their specific needs and challenges, while reducing teacher workload and increasing the educational opportunities for students. For that, we have been developing a professional program for university students parallel to their studies (complemented by training and mentoring support), where university students are matched to primary schools based on their assets and on the school's needs. Like this, we expect students to gain relevant and meaningful social and professional experiences by contributing to our society's educational challenges.

On top of this, we set up a research programme to assess the effects of the project in collaboration with the Haagse Hogeschool, research group Inclusive Education within the Centre of Expertise Global and Inclusive Learning.

Open Science Hub: School-led community development through research and innovation

The Studenten voor Educatie is part of the Horizon 2020 EU Science & Innovation program Open Science Hub project. The national name of Open Science Hub (OSHub) is Het Open Leerplein.

The Open Science Hub project engages schools and local stakeholders in using research and innovation as a tool to tackle local relevant challenges and contributing to sustainable community development. Importantly, OSHubs are being created in communities that traditionally do not engage with research and innovation due to various barriers - geographical location, socio-economic status, ethnic minority groups.

For that, OSHubs work as mediators in each local community – as school-driven Science Shops –, facilitating the bridge between the needs of the schools and their local context, and supporting them to become active agents for collaboration between families, universities, industry, local governments, civil and wider society, by engaging in real life projects that meet societal needs.

Coordinator: Leiden University

• coronavirus
• didactics
• open schooling
• primary school
• social innovation

Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Share by WhatsApp Share by Mastodon