Being a diversity officer within ITE in the Netherlands: seeking connection with ‘the other’ across the boundaries of differences.

In this ED-TED podcast episode, ED-TED member Lieke Jager interviews Dr. Mirjam Stroetinga about her work as a an inclusion program leader at the Marnix Academie in Utrecht, a university of applied sciences  that provides initial teacher education. They delve into her work of being an inclusion program leader for several years now and discuss her successes and struggles in working towards an inclusive ITE. At the start of it all, she and her colleagues used an online learning environment to inspire their thinking and set their goals. You can find this learning environment (in Dutch) via: https://inclusief-opleidingen.platformsamenopleiden.nl/#/.

Mirjam is open about the inherent and ongoing dilemma’s of being inclusive and about her answer: stay in active dialogue, from an attitude of empathy and curiosity towards the other. Always. And embrace the unavoidable pain as an opportunity to learn. Furthermore, she explains how being inclusive as a teacher training institute encompasses  so much more than ‘only’ curriculum and how such a simple thing as opening a mailbox for students and employees led to changes.

Mirjam would like to thank Dr. Machteld de Jong of Hogeschool Inholland and Huub Nelis of ROC Van Amsterdam for their guidance and support in starting up the inclusion work at Marnix Academie

Would you like to learn more or get in contact with Mirjam? Please send her an email at:   m.stroetinga@hsmarnix.nl

Listen the audio version:

Read the whole transcript – Here