Rianne van der Feen-Kooiman

Rianne van der Feen-Kooiman

Rianne van der Feen-Kooiman is a lecturer-researcher at the Excellence and Innovation in Education lectureship.

'More inclusive education occurs when an environment can adapt to the needs of the student. In contrast to individualistic customization that increases workload, close networks enable us to be more inclusive.'


Rianne trained as a drama teacher at the School of the Arts in Arnhem and subsequently worked as a theater maker and actor abroad for ten years. She therefore first taught acting at the theater school in Seattle and Prague and then obtained her bachelor's degree in Nursing from the University of Washington. She conducted research into fall prevention in psychogeriatrics at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and completed a master's degree in Nursing Specialist.

Given her education, it was logical that she worked as a nurse specialist in a nursing home for some time, but ultimately education suited her better: first as a Healthcare and Welfare teacher in Rotterdam and now as a Nursing teacher in Vlissingen. She recently graduated from Radboud University as an ECHA Gifted Specialist.

Based on her expertise and affinity, Rianne conducts research in the field of inclusive education in the Excellence and Innovation in Education professorship. 'The question is not whether we should do something with inclusion, such as dealing more consciously with brain diversity, but how we can best approach this in order to contribute to equal opportunities in our education.' She is the initiator of various projects. Firstly, the Brain Diversity project, which explores which methods and tools can be developed for students, teachers and study career coaches at the HZ University of Applied Sciences to support them in more inclusive education, and secondly, the Workshop for Educational Research on Giftedness Zeeland, which, together with stakeholders from all education sectors, examines the continuous line of primary, secondary, vocational and higher professional education. Finally, she is preparing a PhD research at the University of Groningen for which she is also investigating the topic of more inclusive higher education.

Projects

Brain diversity

During this project, the needs of students, study career coaches (SLCs) and teachers will be…

Workshop on Educational Research on Giftedness Zeeland