I’m in a room full of girls. An all-female company feels good; the girls are bubbly and chatty, in skinny jeans and flowy Friday-night tops, with large glittery earrings, shimmery highlights and sweet perfume.
For a Delft girl used to an all-male company this is a bit of a treat: instead of crude jokes and tech-talk there’s chatter about makeup and guys; instead of beer cans, half-empty wine glasses stud the coffee tables. I’m in a student house in Den Haag, at a special ‘Tupperware party’ – except there is no Tupperware involved. Instead of plastic containers, we’ll be introduced to a series of adult toys tonight—it’s a Ladies’ Night homeparty!
I’m half-expecting a leather-clad mistress host. Instead a typical student-girl, in a turtleneck sweater, jeans, and casual flats shows up with a suitcase full of the goodies. Following a brief introduction, she begins describing and passing around each of the items in her supply. First come the lotions, massage oils, body paints… The girls nervously giggle as they smear, sniff, taste the various products before passing them on. As the evening progresses and more wine is consumed, the heavy guns are brought out. By the end of the night, the ladies are poking vibrators at one another’s faces and making provocative photos with phallic objects. Some girls are using vibrators as neck massagers and commenting on the effectiveness of a particular setting. Some are squeeling, running around with whips and blindfolds. I’m tipsy from three glasses of wine, but still sober enough to pray that these pictures won’t end up on Facebook, so I ask my girls to make sure. “Of course not!” they reassure me, but I snap a few myself as a pact-setter, just in case.
While all this madness goes down, some of the guys of the student house start to surface, looking annoyed. Wait a second, there’s a room full of tipsy girls in Friday-night gear in your common room, and you’re rolling your eyes instead of dropping your jaw to the floor? Oh that’s right Toto, we’re not in Delft any more…
Scholen konden voor het project zelf ideeën inbrengen. Uit de 44 inzendingen werden vorige week zeven winnaars geselecteerd. Meest gehoorde oplossing: meer doen met computers.
Door te werken met videolessen zouden scholen minder docenten nodig kunnen hebben. Ook zou onderwijs anders georganiseerd kunnen worden, zonder de klassen zoals we die nu kennen. Als docenten digitaal leren optimaal benutten, zouden ze grotere groepen leerlingen kunnen begeleiden.
Demissionair staatssecretaris Marja van Bijsterveldt is positief over de ideeën die zijn aangedragen. “Ze laten zien dat je digitale programma’s heel goed kunt inzetten om de traditionele leermethoden te ondersteunen en dat je het onderwijs anders kunt organiseren.”
Scholen kunnen zich inschrijven om te experimenteren met een van de winnende concepten. Er is twintig miljoen euro beschikbaar om te onderzoeken wat de effecten zijn van de vernieuwende ideeën op het lerarentekort.
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