Chiel van der Veen appointed professor of Urban Care and Education

On 1 November, Dr Chiel van der Veen started as the new professor of Urban Care & Education at Windesheim's research centre of Social Innovations Flevoland in Almere.

Chiel van der Veen worked as a senior university lecturer in educational pedagogy in the Department of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences at VU University Amsterdam. He was also head of the Educational Sciences section.

In his research, Chiel focuses on three themes:

• Learning and social interaction
• Play as a context for learning
• Translating research findings into educational practice

Chiel is also involved in several organizations, including the NVO (Dutch association of pedagogues and educationalists), childandfamilyblog.com and the journal De Wereld van het Jonge Kind.

We asked Chiel about his vision on his new position: 
"Education in Almere faces a number of major challenges. For example, the quality of education and equal opportunities are under pressure due to a significant shortage of qualified staff, the cooperation between education and (youth) care is complex and many children in Almere struggle with basic skills. With our research group, we aim to use scientific knowledge to provide solutions to these challenges in collaboration with the educational field. This is no easy task, but we hope that together we can gradually improve education a little bit and make it more accessible."

The professorship of Urban Care & Education replaces the professorship of Leadership in Education and Development. The research centre is very much looking forward to the contribution Chiel can make to this new research group together with our lecturers, researchers and all our partners in the field.