Interview with youth candidate - Simon Theeuwes #21

Who are you and where are you from?

I'm Simon, I'm originally from Nijmegen. I have lived there almost all my life, but I lived in America for three years between the ages of six and nine. I moved to Utrecht two and a half years ago and I now live in Transwijk. It's a really nice place, nice and close to the city. The accessibility of the city and the fact that there is a lot of attention to culture makes Utrecht a very nice city for me.

What do you do now in daily life?

I work at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, as a policy advisor. There, I am working on a number of things. On the one hand, I am working as a project leader on three projects. The big problem there is the huge teacher shortage in PO and Rotterdam wants to tackle that. The aim of the projects is to attract more young people to go to the Pabo and ensure that they eventually choose to become teachers in primary education in Rotterdam.

The first project is the mbo-pabo transfer project. This project was created for mbo students who fail the entrance tests for the pabo, to prepare them for the tests and for hbo life. We try to brush up their study skills, their Dutch and arithmetic. They also do an internship to experience what it is like to be at the Pabo and to do an internship in primary education.

The second project is talent scouting within education. We want to scout more young people whom we think have talents to go to the paediatrician's programme and encourage them to choose the programme. We do this by talking to pupils in secondary education and senior secondary vocational education, but also by asking mentors and study-career counsellors to scout talented young people.

The final project is the career start guarantee. We are going to give students coming from Rotterdam-South a guaranteed job once they have completed the Pabo, at a primary school in South. In this way, we will bring students from South back to South, so that in this way more young people end up studying. There are five school boards that have committed to this and they have x number of places they are guaranteed to keep free. In total, these are 100 places a year. At the moment, we are busy informing those students at open days of the Pabo, but also within Rotterdam-Zuid itself on the basis of the other two projects. During their studies, students look to see which school best suits them so that a good match is created between school and student.

In addition, I deal with other portfolios, for example co-determination. Within the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, we are in the process of renewing and strengthening co-determination. I am also working on study success measures, on how we can educate students more successfully and better. Finally, I am working on improving the transition from MBO to HBO.

Why did you choose to get involved in education?

I studied training science myself, which is about training employees within organisations. I think learning is perhaps the most important thing in life. I have a motto: “a day without learning is a day not lived!” This is really what I believe in, that you should always keep developing. As a student, you are extra busy with this, but when you are an adult or working, you also have to keep learning. I got this very much from my studies.

After I finished my studies, I joined the ISO (the Interstedelijk Studenten Overleg), where I was an advocate for studying Holland. We stood for improving education at the national level. In addition, our member organisations were the participation councils and we supported them in their work.

I started this because I am very proud of education in the Netherlands. We have a very good education system, but there is still room for improvement to a certain extent. A theme I find very important is teacher quality. At university, teaching is an afterthought. Research is the priority, because that is what they are paid for and that is what they focus on. Because of this, you notice that a lot of lecturers were not properly trained. It is also not yet well regulated everywhere within the hbo. Steps have been taken here, but it could be better.

Another important theme is the flexibilisation of education, i.e. working much more tailor-made and using digital tools to do so. If I compare it to the Human Resource Development world, digitalisation, E-learning and blended learning in education is still underexposed. This is a shame. The world is quite small these days. This has its advantages. For example, you can learn a lot from students from all parts of the world who are doing the same education as you.

What do you experience as your biggest challenge in your political career?

I have always been very nationally oriented, at the ISO, at GroenLinks. Now I find it interesting, but also challenging, to translate this knowledge to the city. Also when you talk about education, it is not necessarily a main topic of the city council, but still I think it should be an important topic. Thus, there are several themes I would like to work on.

What are your strengths that you can use in the municipal council?

My expertise is really in the field of education. I have a lot of experience within the problem of the teacher shortage in Rotterdam and I would like to bring that to this city as well. In fact, I believe that the city council in Utrecht could pay more attention to education. In Rotterdam, the topic of education, and especially the teacher shortage, is very important. A lot of measures are being taken there that you don't think about at first glance, but that you can do about the teacher shortage as a municipality.

Where does your motto come from, why is learning so important to you?

I think it is important for people to keep developing, because if people keep developing then society will also keep developing. If we keep standing still then that is not good in my opinion. That doesn't mean you have to constantly change everything, you have to be critical. Things that are going well should be kept and things that are not going well should be changed. That is actually what learning is all about. You can do that on a personal level, but also as an organisation and even as a society. Continuing to develop this is very important to me.

What do you think of the new national government's move to halve tuition fees for studies in the first semester to attract more people? And halving tuition fees for paediatric and other teacher training courses for the first two years?

I am very curious to see whether it will attract more people to go to, say, the Pabo. For some students, the cost of studying is a barrier. I can imagine that this could encourage people to study anyway. However, other measures will also have to be taken to attract more students to the PABO. Examples are the workload and salary. I also think we need to explain better what the beauty of teaching is. I think it is very good that people are going to demonstrate and let it be heard that changes have to take place regarding salaries and the like. On the other hand, we should also really let people hear how wonderful teaching is, how much fun it is to be a teacher and how diverse the profession is! In the social debate, we sometimes forget that. For instance, it might backfire, because students only get the message that the salary is low and the workload is high. So both sides need to be highlighted. This is where the national and local government has a responsibility.

How did you end up at DWARS?

The first time I was introduced to DWARS was when I started working at the national office of GroenLinks. I was doing an internship there at the GroenLinks Academy. I was then in regular contact with the DWARS board. I didn't do much at DWARS myself, but I always enjoyed joining meetings. DWARS is a combination of sociability, networking and engaging in political debate.

If I am completely honest, I saw less of a point in youth organisations. I wondered why this could not also be a part of GroenLinks (e.g. through a working group). Over time, I have come to realise that young people's opinions are under-reported more often than you think and that we could pay attention to this more often. Besides, I think this is also an important personal development for people is working at DWARS and that it is a good springboard for young people who want to improve the Netherlands. I am now more in touch with DWARS than ever before and in hindsight I would have liked to have held a position at DWARS during my student days. It is a nice network of people with the same vision.

For you, what is the underlying vision of GroenLinksers or DWARSers?

I believe very much in the name: Green and Left. These should also be our spearheads in all debates and conversations. Green' refers to sustainability, a green city with plenty of space for nature and a lot of attention to renewable energy, waste separation and public transport. On the other hand, you have the left and for me that is mainly in accessibility. Everyone is allowed to be who they are and everyone should be given space to develop themselves and to do what they are capable of. From my educational side, accessibility is an important issue, but also within the city of Utrecht itself. If you look at the different neighbourhoods, I would like to see a lot of diversity in education type, background, sector of interest, et cetera.

How do you achieve more diversity in neighbourhoods?

This starts with the type of houses. Social housing can be interspersed with private, private, owner-occupied and rented houses. You can also add student houses in any neighbourhood. Housing prices are very high now, especially for students. There should be more houses and cheaper ones. Utrecht is one of the most expensive cities for students to live in. I think that's a problem.

For you, what is the benefit of more diversity in neighbourhoods?

If you have a diverse population - and now I'm getting back to learning - we can develop as a society. I think you create and keep a good society running by having diverse people with different backgrounds, expertise and experiences. If you are open to each other, you can learn from each other and strengthen each other. From there, individuals and our society continue to develop. That is what I always find beautiful about the Netherlands, that we have many different cultures and diversity. That ensures that, as a human being, you are also open to other things and to change, more so than when you only live in your own bubble and have a closed vision.