International Teacher Education for Secondary Schools (ITESS)

The ITESS degree at NHL Stenden teaches you how to think and work in a multicultural environment and from a cross-cultural perspective. The programme focuses on the skills and knowledge needed to become an international teacher, such as didactics, classroom management, inclusivity, citizenship and pedagogy.

The programme offers a range of general courses and specialist subjects and has a strong practical focus. You will gain extensive experience teaching at international secondary schools in the Netherlands and abroad. There you will work on developing educational, pedagogical and teaching skills in the context of a multicultural classroom.

With our teacher training degree, International Teacher Education for Secondary Schools you become an inclusive and skilled teacher able to work with young people in schools across the world. Combine your creativity and adaptability to teach your specialist subject to a diversity of learners with different backgrounds, needs and language levels.

ITESS is a unique, four-year programme aimed specifically at international secondary education. The strong practical focus enables you to gain extensive teaching experience at international secondary schools in the Netherlands and abroad. You will develop your educational, pedagogical and teaching skills at a pace that suits you and in a way that enables you to demonstrate your personal skills and potential. This teaching degree has a holistic approach so students learn to integrate the academic, social, emotional and ethical needs of their pupils into their lessons. The programme offers five main subject fields, namely Mathematics, Science, English, Social Studies: History, and Social Studies: Geography.

Specialisations

You can take these minors on the Meppel campus or at one of the NHL Stenden Grand Tour locations in South Africa, Bali or Thailand. You can also choose from minors offered by other courses and universities of applied sciences – this is all part of broadening your academic skills.

• Teaching English as an Additional Language(Meppel, the Netherlands). This minor strengthens your teacher profile by improving your English knowledge and proficiency. Take courses on English in the international classroom or on the history of English, and courses on Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.
• ITE Social Studies 2(Meppel, the Netherlands). In this minor, you improve your knowledge and skills relating to geography and history. You study the didactics of both subjects and how to teach integrated social studies with field trips, experiments and designing together playing important roles.
• Intercultural Understanding and Religion (Meppel, the Netherlands). Offering a combination of theories on religion and philosophical approaches, this minor helps you to not only analyse current problems and events, but also understand the role intercultural understanding and religion plays in our globalised world.
• Education in South Africa (South Africa). This minor gives you exposure to a different cultural environment in which teachers are operating, helping you to develop your people skills, and giving you a firmer knowledge of others.