This master track will teach you how to be critical and question everything, with a focus on education and learning of course.
Tudor Cristea
Alumnus Educational Psychology: Learning and Performance, currently PhD student Eindhoven University of Technology.
"Oh, so you want to become a teacher?” Following the Educational Master’s programme here at Erasmus University, which has the fancy name Educational Psychology: Learning and Performance, you will most likely be asked this question on a regular basis. It is still possible to become a teacher. You can still become a teacher in any field, I do believe this Master takes it a step further.
Let’s start with some cool research findings. Did you know that walking stimulates creativity? Furthermore, walking outside is even more effective than indoors. Another interesting fact: all psychology tests ever devised are racist and all teachers are biased. Read that again and take it in. OK. If you have some basic knowledge of psychology as a science, you would already have known this. We are biased in everything we do, and education is not unaffected by this. Should we give up? I think this is just another reason to continue!
This Master’s programme will teach you how to be critical and question everything. There is of course a focus on education and learning. How can walking improve creativity? Is this really true? Who has made this statement and how do you test if it is correct?! Before becoming completely paranoid, I should mention that the Master’s programme is very practical. You will get the chance to visit companies and learning institutions if you’re interested in these things. You will also learn to approach educational problems from a various perspectives.
Coming back to the first question, I can now try to give a better answer than one I gave at the beginning. One of the aims of the Master’s programme is to make sure teachers become better teachers by training. They are stimulated to use valid methods and coached to approach all subjects with energy and passion. Moreover, they learn to form policies which make sense and implement them in a way that account for all human differences, both in our schools but also in society as a whole. This sounds like a huge endeavor. However, if you realise that everything started with a shy, fragile hand that was raised, we should be honoured to have the chance to directly “prepare” our society’s future.
This Master’s programme will teach you how to be critical and question everything, with a focus on education and learning of course.