From curiosity to impact: Comenius Senior Fellowship awarded to Diane Beerlage
Our colleague, a teacher connected to the Care About IT project, Diane Beerlage, has been awarded a Comenius Senior Fellowship (mbo) for her project “From curiosity to impact: a sustainable learning pathway for research skills in vocational education.”
The news was originally shared via the Practoraat Care and Technology and highlights Diane’s long-standing contribution to strengthening inquiry-based learning in vocational education. Within her work, she supports healthcare students in developing a critical and curious mindset: observing practice, asking questions, and collaboratively working on improvement.
Since 2018, Diane has been active as a lecturer-researcher within the Practoraat Care and Technology. She has contributed to the development of research and design-based learning approaches, including wonder teams, research workshops, and a vocational adaptation of Design Thinking. In doing so, she continuously connects students, teachers, educational programmes, and healthcare organisations.
The Comenius Fellowship recognises this long-term development rather than marking a starting point. Over the next 2.5 years, DCTerra, Noorderpoort, and Alfa-college will continue working together on a continuous learning pathway for research skills in healthcare and social care education. This pathway supports students from their first moments of curiosity through to their development as beginning professionals who can independently investigate, design, test, and evaluate improvements in practice.
Key elements of this work include:
a shared Design Thinking methodology adapted to vocational education
making student growth visible through tools such as rubrics, growth cards, and practice-based feedback
exploring how graduates apply their research skills in professional practice
studying the impact of an inquiry-based mindset on innovation and quality improvement in healthcare
collaboration across three regional colleges and healthcare organisations
This work contributes to educating professionals who not only start their careers with strong skills, but continue to observe, question, research, and improve throughout their professional lives.
Congratulations to Diane on this well-deserved recognition. The fellowship underlines her long-term commitment, vision, and ability to connect people, ideas, and practice.
