Presentation by Ton van der Valk (JCU) at International Conference "Evoking Excellence in Higher Education and Beyond", Groningen 3-4 October 2012

1. Connecting excellence
in Secondary and Higher
Education: Junior
College Utrecht
Presentation to the International Conference
‘Evoking Excellence in Higher Education
and Beyond’
October 4 & 5 in Groningen (the
Netherlands)
Ton van der Valk, Freudenthal Institute for
Science and Mathematics Education/ JCU
a.e.vandervalk@uu.nl ; www.uu.nl/jcu

2. My programme
• Introduction
• Theoretical framework
• Start of JCU (2004)
• JCU 1.0 (2004 – 2007)
• JCU 2.0 (2007 – 2012)
• JCU 3.0 (2012 - ??)
• Success factors/recommendations

3. Introduction
Critical reflection on a ‘good practice’
• Gap between secondary school and university
• Junior College Utrecht connects upper secondary to
university education
• Partnership UU and 28 secondary schools
1. Science and Mathematics to 100 excellent grade 11 and 12
students, 2 years, 2 days a week
2. A working place for improvement of quality of education
• Has been successful since its start in 2004
What are success factors of JCU approach?

4. Framework 1: stakeholders of
excellence in secondary schools
• Talented students
• Their parents
• Their teachers
• Their schools; school principals
• Universities
• National policy
Teachers are main stakeholders in promoting excellence
They need to be empowered by other stakeholders

5. Framework 2: empowerment and
support for excellence
• Excellence asks for ‘Empowerment’
People feel challenged, part of a team, having valuable contributions
empowerment dimensions
– Competence
– Meaningfulness
– Impact
– Choice
(Thomas & Veltman 1990; Frymier & Shulman 1996)
JCU wants to empower all stakeholders

6. Start of JCU
• Initiative from staff of Utrecht University College
• Support from Executive Board of UU, staff and science
education dept.
• Visits to principals and science depts. of secondary schools
• Financial support from Platform Science and Technology
Initial empowerment, but also some resistance from school
and university teachers
JCU 1.0: student programme
• In 2004: started with 22 students from 12 schools
• In 2005: 50 students from 26 schools

7. Activities JCU 1.0
2004- 2007
• Development of JCU programme (Maths, Phys, Chem, Bio)
• Syllabuses taught by selected upper secondary teachers
(enriched, accelerated)
• ‘Modules’ and projects related to research taught by UU-
teachers
• Community building
• Start teacher programme
• Frequent contacts with all stakeholders
Students: good results; felt empowerment
Growing enthusiasm stakeholders; resistance faded away

8. Developments 2007/08
• UU involved in Sirius project
• JCU embedded in Faculty of Science
• Introduction of new secondary science curricula, a.o. NLT
– Opportunities for making students acquainted with recent
developments in science
• New insights of JCU staff:
– group of students is less homogeneous than expected
(empowerment study: van der Valk et al. 2011)
– Growing readiness in school for sharing JCU experiences
JCU 2.0

9. Activities JCU 2.0
2007 - 2012
• JCU embedded in Faculty of Science
• JCU teacher programme: testing and adapting NLT-modules
• Resulted in nation wide dissemination of 12 NLT modules
(www.betavak-nlt.nl e.g. The Molecules of Life)
• Differentiation and choices in JCU curriculum
• Resulted in differentiation assignments (e.g. balancing bowls)
Partner school teachers empowered
School principals see opportunities for further development
Faculties: experience impact JCU on schools and staff

10. Developments 2011/12
• Policy makers: promote excellence and science in
secondary schools
• Schools:
– development excellence trajectories in all secondary
grades
– Participate in JCU teacher professionalisation
• Matching for 1st year university honours
• Faculty of Science wants to contact more secondary
students
• Hogeschool Utrecht wants to join

11. JCU 3.0: U-Talent
2012 - ?
• Aim: development of excellence trajectories for science and
maths in secondary schools grades 7 to 12
• Involvement of nearly all JCU partner schools
• Project with 5 parts
– Developing school programmes excellence/differentiation
– campus programme: 2 days at UU or HU for 600 selected
students grades 9 – 11
– Teacher programme: teacher development teams;
professionalisation course
– School principal development teams
– Research projects

12. JCU 3.0: how will it look like?
• Differentiated school programmes in JCU partner schools
grade 7-12
• Campus programmes grade 7 – 10 (e.g. 2 days a year)
• New campus programme for grade 11/12 (e.g. 14 days a
year)

13. Success factors/recommendations
• Empower all stakeholders of ‘developing excellence’ process
– Yes, we can!
– Yes, it’s meaningful
– Yes, we have impact
– Yes, we make our own choices
• The teachers are the key stakeholders
• The students are the best ambassadors
• Build learning communities for stakeholders
• Anticipate and attach to developments in national, regional
and local policy in university and secondary education
• Make progression visible (posters); share, ask for feedback

14. Thank you for your attention
• a.e.vandervalk@uu.nl
Sites:
• www.uu.nl/jcu English
• www.betadifferentiatie.nl
• www.vobouwstenen.nl
• www.betavak-nlt.nl English