Contact “BROAD FIRST YEAR: MANY ADVANTAGES. ESPECIALLY NOW!" Home › News › “Broad first year: many advantages. Especially now!" Posted on 07 April 2021 The Liemers College in Didam has started a broad bridging period this school year. Mavo, havo and vwo students spend two years in the same class and choose the levels at which they follow their subjects. This supplemented with intensive coaching. A strong combination. “Experience peace because you can postpone choosing a definitive level of education. That is one of the main advantages of a broad bridging period," says Susanne Pondman, substructure team leader and initiator of the broad bridging class in Didam. “At our school you can get used to your new environment. And take the time to find out who you are and what you can do. There is no pressure to perform at your best right away.” Respect for each other's talent “A common response from our students is that they are not afraid to ask stupid questions,” Susanne continues. “Because the education is completely geared to differentiated lessons, students respect their mutual differences and talents. The threshold for asking questions is therefore lower. Moreover, choosing your own level is extremely motivating. You see that students associate with classmates who follow a subject at a higher level. Conversely, if you, as a student, experience that a subject at pre-university education level is just a bit too ambitious, then simply discuss this with your coach. How nice is it that you can only follow that subject at HAVO level!” Coaches instead of subject teachers “We combine our broad first-year concept with intensive coaching,” Susanne says enthusiastically. “Each class consists of two coaching groups, each with its own coach. There are three coaching hours per week: a meeting with the coaching group in which you are assigned, a personal meeting with your coach and an hour in which you work on study skills together with your coaching group.” The latter is important, according to Susanne: "Because you work with a heterogeneous group of students, you will more often have to work independently if your coach gives an explanation to a different group." More than performing “The combination of having the freedom to develop in who you are and being able to choose subjects at different levels – in consultation with your coach – works very well,” says Susanne. “There is a lot of focus on 'Who am I?', 'Who am I in a group?', 'What do I have to bring?' and on 'What else can I learn?' Our education goes beyond delivering cognitive performance. The social-emotional aspect receives a lot of attention. The vast majority of our students find that very pleasant.” Equality of opportunity “Many students also like that, despite the fact that they have different school advice, they still come in class with their friends from primary school or from the football club. That feels very safe and familiar. This makes the transition from primary to secondary education smoother. From the perspective of equality of opportunity, we as a school also very much welcome this: long-lasting, mixed friendships arise within our coaching groups. Nice to see!" 'Peer-to-peer effect' Extensive literature research preceded the start of the broad first class in Didam. “I have collected and studied all kinds of studies about broad bridging periods and educational differentiation. A lot is already known about it worldwide. In the Netherlands we are a bit behind in this area,” says Susanne, who has a background as a researcher. “It appears, and I have demonstrably experienced this myself in my work, that a peer-to-peer effect arises in differentiated learning: the results of HAVO students in a combination class 'HAVO/VWO' are 15% higher than that of pupils in a homogeneous havo class. How can this be? You work together and unnoticed you catch some of the VWO instruction. That is very nourishing.” Also for outspoken pre-university students? “Parents of pre-university students often feel a little more for the traditional, homogeneous classroom at first. And from the perspective of cognitive skills, I understand that well," says Susanne. “But education is broader than that; it is also very much about personal development, cooperation, social interaction and being able to learn from each other. For some pre-university students it may therefore be a conscious choice to opt for the broad bridging period. This applies, for example, to students who experience stress more quickly when pressure to perform from the group.” Self-steering ability & reflection “Pupils who do not have a good command of executive functions, such as planning and working independently, usually have a little more difficulty with differentiated education. Certainly not a problem, but something to be aware of. For students with an autistic spectrum disorder, reflecting on their own behavior can be a challenge,” explains Susanne. “Incidentally, we do have a trajectory group at school and we offer extra support.” Now extra valuable "In this challenging and uncertain corona time, the peace of a postponed choice is extra valuable," says Susanne. “In recent years we have seen significantly more mixed school advice. Now that students in groups 7 and 8 have missed part of their lessons due to the coronavirus, I can imagine that it will be even more complicated for primary school teachers this year to give very specific school advice. Wider boarding gives you the freedom to find out at your own pace where you are and what you want. Our educational concept fits in perfectly with this.” SHARE THIS MESSAGE " Back to the overview OTHER NEWS The 100-day experience of … Judith Burgers News November 22, 2021 Students commemorate Holocaust victims News November 15, 2021 Kiesjenieuweschool.nl renewed! News November 11, 2021 Figures and the story behind them News Nov 10, 2021 QUADRAAM USES COOKIES Indicate the choice for the use of cookies per category. We have completely anonymized the cookies from Google Analytics and therefore we are allowed to place them without permission. You can read more about this in our Privacy Statement . Would you like the best website experience? Then tick all the boxes. 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