Koen Wessels Email & Phone Number

Utrecht, Netherlands

The School of Regenerative Educators emerged from my partnership with regenerative education scholars Mieke Lopes Cardozo and Bas van den Berg. We have all worked for years on transforming education to be more life-affirming and healing for all involved in educational processes. SRE's core purpose is to empower and help with the development of the next generations of regenerative educators. We offer programs and resourcing for educational professionals and teams and we develop and publish stories and frameworks to support the field. SRE is based in The Netherlands but aims to work internationally.

As an action researcher and experimental educator, I worked on a novel project called Academy of Hope. The project was informed by the conviction that in the current day and age, in which complex crises interweave and conventional structures are challenged, we need to reimagine and recreate the role of the university in society. In this project, we staged and researched (more) relational and regenerative forms of education, in which students mix with other agents of change, collaboratively (re)imagine a sustainable and ecologically just future, and explore the possibility-space this opens up in the here and now.

Utrecht Area, Netherlands

I completed a PhD-thesis titled 'Pedagogy of Entanglement: A response to the complex societal challenges permeating our lives' under supervision of professor Cok Bakker, professor Arjen Wals, and dr. George Lengkeek. * The key objective of this project was to explore what it means, and asks of a teacher, to shape an adequate educational response to the complex questions and challenges in our shared world.* Methodologically, this project combined collaborative auto-ethnography with 12 teachers as co-researchers with educational philosophy.* Relational ontology, and seeing the student as ''entangled'' – i.e. the student is always already shaped by and shaper of the questions of our time – became the point of departure for my theorizing. * Key concepts in my thesis became: entanglement-orientedness (as opposed to self-or-other-orientedness), entanglement-awareness, hopeful action (e.g. acts of conservation, acts of adaptation, acts of regeneration), education as a process of collaborative inquiry, and the teacher qualities of perceptiveness and integrity.

Amsterdam

De Bildung Academie is a bottom-up initiative that strives to create and strengthen a meaningful connection between students’ personal development and their positive engagement with complex societal challenges. It does so by both being a hub for experimental educational programs and by offering various types of support to educational institutions. Information about its history, aims, and activities can be found on www.debildungacademie.nl).The main roles I have fulfilled within De Bildung Academie are: * I co-developed and taught in DBA's full-time half-year program for university students. * I coordinated, co-developed, and taught in the program 'Bildung for Teachers', aimed at providing teachers a safe and inspiring space to deepen their pedagogical vision and repertoire.* I helped develop and taught in the community service learning program 'Grensverleggers', in which young adults are invited and facilitated to develop self-chosen projects in their local communities. * I worked as an educational consultant (i.e., providing training and inspiration sessions for educational professionals, facilitating teams in curriculum-development and team-building, being a critical friend to program managers, being a guest teacher). I have structurally contributed, amongst others, to Praktoraat Brede Vorming of ROC Friese Poort, AMFI (Amsterdam Fashion Institute), HvA Bestuurskunde, Windesheim ICT, Windesheim Business College, Alberdink Tijm Scholengemeenschap, and Sint Lucas College.* I wrote the book 'Dan maken we ons onderwijs zelf wel!' as an autoethnographic take on the first years of De Bildung Academie and an exploration of the philosophy/pedagogy of Bildung for the 21st century* Fundraising in the start-up phase of De Bildung Academie; I have successfully initiated long-term collaboration with Porticus, Stichting Janivo, and Stichting Talud.

Junior Researcher in a project concerning the embodied development of scientific understanding in young children

Utrecht

Research Assistant in a project concerning interest development of students in the transition period between high school and university. Teaching assistant in computer practicals of a statistics course for research master students. The main subject of the course was Multilevel Modelling

Istanbul, Turkey

In this research internship, I developed and conducted a research project concerning Erasmus students in Istanbul. The project specifically focussed on motives for choosing the Erasmus program, satisfaction with the exchange period, and inter-cultural experiences.

Amsterdam

I lead weekly workgroup sessions of a Bachelor course on Biomechanics

The Regenerative Practitioner Series

The Regenerative Practitioner Series is an intensive deep dive for practitioners who are called to take their capability to practice.

Education record

I completed Deep Democracy Level 1-4 at the House of Deep Democracy in Amsterdam. These trainings focus on the method and theory of Deep.

Master Of Science (Ms), Reserach Master Educational Sciences: Learning In Interaction, 8

Thesis subject: Competing interests of Science and Technology interested students when making post high school educational choices.

Honours Program Vu & Uva, 8

I followed the Honours Program of the VU and UvA. Courses: Educating for the Good Life Religion, Identity, and Conflict Labyrint Retorica

Bachelor Of Science (B.Sc.), Human Movement Sciences, 8

Research Project: Research on multiple methods to teach physical education, focussing on digital instruction, self-directed learning.

Personal Leadership Training

A course focussing on the development of Personal Leadership

Vwo Diploma, Dubble Profile Ng (Natuur & Gezondheid; Nature & Health) & Nt (Natuur & Techniek; Nature And Health)