The energy and discussions made it clear that more and more teachers are concerned not only with what students learn, but also with how they develop. Attitude, values, emotions and inner motivation play a major role in how students learn and how they relate to an increasingly complex world and an uncertain future.

Special thanks go to the speakers in this first session:

• Hendrik de Widt (EB) talked about the course The Future of Marketing, in which students sometimes find thinking about the future exciting or even frightening. He showed how this is not only relevant in future-oriented education, but also in thesis supervision and statistics classes, and how safety and room for uncertainty are essential in the learning process.
• Judith van de Boogert (IIS) provided an insight into the course Misconnected, in which students work on empathy, trust and courage. They learn not to avoid difficult conversations, but to engage in them. The course examines whether students actually grow in these capacities.
• Jelger Kroese (FNWI) uses metaphors to teach students to make room for imagination and their own perspective on action. His research among students of the Collective Futures minor reveals a clear need: ‘Students ask for communities of world‑sensing‑making, not just content delivery. Places where academic questions, personal dilemmas and existential feelings can be held together.’

The kick-off was the starting point for the SIG Affective Learning. One of the components of this SIG is the Multi-day Teacher Training. Are you looking for ways to incorporate personal and professional development into your teaching? Are you a teacher who wants to support students in their personal development and grow further in this area yourself? Then this multi-day teacher training is for you! The first training session is on 30 January 2026, so don't wait too long to register. 

The teacher training course ‘Affective Education’ is part of the Empowered Minds project, for which Linda de Greef (Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies) and Ilja Boor (Teaching & Learning Centre Centraal) have been awarded a Comenius Leadership Fellowship.