Educational innovation with impact: this is how De Havo Rotterdam monitors its success

De Havo Rotterdam opened in August 2023. The school not only wants to innovate, but also to monitor whether their approach actually works. Team leader Francis explains how they use the Education Innovation Monitor to continuously improve their educational concept.

De Havo Rotterdam is for pupils with a vmbo-tl (mavo) diploma who want to obtain their havo diploma in two years. The school works with an innovative concept, based on

Ben van der Hilst's theory. Francis: “We work with small teaching teams of educators and teachers who are fully responsible for teaching and guiding a limited group of students.”

Students do not have a mentor, but a personal coach who guides them. “Coaches provide training around fear of failure and executive skills, for example, and conduct a parent-student-coach meeting four times a year,” Francis explains. “We did not want teachers with a coaching role, but professionals who are completely there for the pupil.”

“We wanted to measure from day one whether what we are doing is having an effect,” Francis says. That is why the school commissioned DUO-Onderwijs to conduct the Educational Innovation Monitor, a research that supports schools in monitoring and adjusting educational innovations. “We asked DUO to help think about how we could make the most focused analysis possible. We suggested the topics and DUO formulated the right questions. They have a lot of research experience, a large benchmark and know exactly which context to include in the research and analysis.”

To get as broad a picture as possible, surveys were combined with in-depth interviews in the first year. The results were positive. “Students and parents praised the coaches and personal guidance. The atmosphere in the team was also excellent. “One of the best quotes from that first year was: ‘I work more than I ever did, but I experience less workload.’ That confirmed that our organisational form works.”

There were also areas for improvement. For instance, the externally procured transfer programme was assessed as inadequate. Also, the organisational structure was not yet entirely clear to parents and students.”

The school immediately translated the research findings into action. “We incorporated the concrete spearheads from the research into our annual plan and subject work plan. For instance, we abolished the transition programme and every teacher now pays attention during lessons to the transition from mavo to havo. There is now a camp for new students and during information evenings, parents and students are given a clear explanation of how education teams work.”

A new survey followed the following year. “Again, the researchers helped fine-tune the questions. We also wanted to specifically ask whether our interventions had led to improvement.” The differences were clearly visible. Satisfaction with the transition from mavo to havo rose to 75 per cent, students were enthusiastic about the introductory camp, and parents and students now have a much better idea of how the school is organised. “Coaches are perceived as great,” Francis says. “Students really feel seen and that is exactly what we aim for with our innovative educational concept.”

As team leader, Francis Tettelaar is responsible for the work organisation of De Havo Rotterdam, a school where transferring vmbo students can do the fourth and fifth years of havo.