Niels Vierling

Entrepreneur at Open Future Institute, Horizon College, Combiwel

My experience and deep interests:

• Education (Youth)

I am based in: Amsterdam

I have a great passion for education, and am often surprised about the Dutch school system. I have experienced that people almost always develop themselves when faced with complex and practical situations they have to deal with in life. When you ask people in which situation they learned most, they will all mention complex life changing events that mattered a lot to them at that specific moment in their lives. Facing such situations people need to be innovative, creative and have to think out-of-the-box to overcome these situations.

I find it difficult to understand that Dutch schools start with simple matters that are often not relevant for the students at that particular time in life (you’ll find out later why this is useful). In my opinion, we do not appeal to the enormous innovative and creative abilities that our students have. Earlier as a teacher for high school dropouts, and currently as an educational manager at a vocational school, it is my personal goal to contribute to make the changes at schools I believe are needed. In order for our students to develop themselves in a way they weren’t able to imagine.

To achieve this, I will do my best to provide education that enables constructive conversations with our students in order to coach them in finding their way in our complex society. I think that good educators accompany students to discover what their strengths are, and what their specific talents and passions are. From there students can take responsibility for their personal development, at school and in their life.

I live in Haarlem, the Netherlands, with my girlfriend and my daughter who was born in 2015. I like to read, cook, hike and travel.