Incubator Stay Report Despoina Georgiou
Hosting Institution: Eindhoven School of Education (ESoE), Eindhoven University of Technology
International Advisor: Prof. Jan Vermunt
As a member of the Elite Network of Bavaria and the REASON doctoral school, I was able to visit my international supervisor Prof. Jan Vermunt at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands in the context of my PhD. This research stay took place from June 1st to June 30th 2019.
Eindhoven School of Education (ESoE) is the expertise centre of Eindhoven University of Technology. ESoE fosters research in the field of teachers’ professional development in the science and engineering domain. During my stay at the ESoE, I worked extensively with my international advisor on my doctoral research that focuses on teacher educators’ professionalization through the adoption of Evidence-based teaching (EBT) strategies.
The goal of my research stay was to work on my second study that focuses on teacher educators’ research experience and frequency of EBT use and the mediating role of practical knowledge and self-efficacy beliefs. For this purpose, I had weekly meetings with my advisor during which we discussed about my progress. Prof. Jan Vermunt supported me not only with the conceptualization of my second study but also with the analyses during our meetings. Moreover, he introduced me to his team. There I met and interacted with researchers who work on teacher educators’ professional development. Discussions about the role of teacher educators in teacher education and the role of EBT took place and feedback to my PhD research was provided.
Moreover, I was encouraged to participate in a symposium in the context of the farewell event for Prof. Douwe Beijaard. There I attended the keynote speech entitled ‘Stories to live by as a teacher educator: Intimate connections with the personal and professional narratives of our lives’ provided by Professor Jean Clandinin (University of Alberta, Ca). I also attended sevel workshops focusing on teachers and teacher educators’ professional development based on the paradigms of other countries, such as the talk provided by two Scandinavian researchers, Prof. Jukka Husu (University of Turku) and Prof. Auli Toom (University of Helsinki) which focused on the enhancement of teacher learning through teaching practice in Finnish teacher education.
Another learning opportunity during my research stay was the contact to fellow PhD students who were associates to the ESoE. Postdoctoral candidates from the ‘Innovation Lab’ of the university introduced me to the USE project, a project dedicated to the professional development of the future engineer. The project focuses on the role of the engineer based on the social and management sciences and the humanities. The marriage of engineering and social sciences under the umbrella of students’ professional development really fascinated me and broadened my research horizons.
Overall, my research stay was a very productive experience due to my international advisor and his willingness to support me. I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Vermunt for his time and support. Additionally, I would also like to extent my gratitude to the ESoE team for their warm welcome. Finally, I would like to thank the Elite Network of Bavaria for the financial support and opportunity offered.
Despoina Georgiou is conducting research on teacher educators’ professional development. In detail, her research focuses on Evidence-based teaching in university and in particular in knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of teacher educators. Despoina is conducting her PhD research under the supervision of Prof. Tina Seidel (TUM Chair for Educational Psychology), Prof. Frank Fischer (LMU Chair of Education and Educational Psychology) and Prof. Jan Vermunt (TU/e Chair of Learning and Educational Innovation).