Teachers Contributions to Learning Communities in Higher Education in the Netherlands

Abstract

: Background and aims: The research reported in this article is about the involvement of teachers in Learning Communities at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, in the Social work department. The present study builds on two previous studies. Firstly, a theoretical study on belonging and COVID-19. Secondly, an empirical study of the views of students at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Department of Social Work on": do they feel they belong to this University of Applied Sciences and Social Work in particular? Methods: Central to the study are the results of an OECD questionnaire focusing on teachers' pedagogical skills during, among other things, their work in learning communities and other student-related activities. Secondly, a COVID-19 questionnaire from the Municipal Health service (GGD) was used. Data were collected from 41% of teachers during a workshop on 12 April 2022. Results: First of all, this study shows that teachers suffered substantially from COVID-19 and its associated lockdowns. This affected their work substantially (59% negative) and also their private lives (47%). Second, this study demonstrates that teachers should be more concerned countering disruptive student behavior. Moreover, this study shows that teachers should focus more on the pedagogical skills that form the pillars of a learning community. These outcomes were achieved with Two-Factor Anova without Replication. Conclusions: Windesheim, University of Applied Science, Social Work, has taken the first step by introducing the concept of Learning Communities. To ensure that students actually feel at home in this department of Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, theoretical and practical efforts will have to be made to ensure that students and possibly teachers feel that belonging is seamlessly connected to Learning Communities. This research shows that this can only be done if there is rock-solid work on the pedagogical skills with which the Learning Communities are propped up. Excelling in this will increase the chances of students completing the Social Work program and possibly even a decrease in the dropout rate of students enrolled in this program.