Ethics of Education: History, Pedagogy and Critical Sociology

According to our students:
"Different disciplines are crossed in the lectures, internship and/or master's thesis: history, children's rights and philosophy."
"You will learn to understand complex ethical issues in upbringing, education and youth care and to write concrete advice for professional practices."

• Our master is provided by experts from Educational Sciences sections 'Philosophy and History' and 'Children's Rights';
• Courses, subjects of the research projects and the internships are closely related to the research and expertise of our teaching staff;
• Guest lecturers from the academic world and the professional field discuss current themes in the field of education and youth;
• Students choose whether to write their master's thesis in Dutch or English.

Grant information: students from certain countries are eligible for the Orange Knowledge Programme grant - see https://www.rug.nl/education/international-students/financial-matters/netherlands-fellowship-programme for more information

The part-time programme is identical to the full-time programme, but is divided over two years. You will find the exact division of courses on this page once the programme for 2025/2026 is set.

In the course catalog, click the tab 'Ethics of Education and click on a course for more information about the content, the learning objective, language, teacher. Please note: until the programme for 2025/2026 is set, you will see details of the full-time programme.

In the international Master Ethics of Education professionals and almost-professionals develop the knowledge and skills needed to research and respond to urgent ethical questions, doing justice to their complexity, while at the same time seeking practical solutions that may be of use in the context of policy-making and in practice.

The master's track will prepare you for jobs at institutions and media in the field of education, training, child care and child and youth welfare work. Two domains of jobs can be distinguished: Teaching & Training and Policy and Consultancy. Teaching & Training includes for example teaching at schools for higher professional education (hbo), but also schooling and training at institutions and companies. Policy & Consultancy includes consultative jobs, policy making and communication and the theoretical underpinning and support of educational responsibilities both from private and governmental organizations.
Of course, the master track also prepares you to do academic research. You will be trained in academic reading, designing research, assessing scientific publications and academic writing.

Students will be familiarized with the educational field, career options and career perspectives. They will practice professional skills, such as writing consultancy reports and policy decisions, teaching and training. The internship and the course Professional Skills are important parts of the master track.

Kinds of institutions where jobs can be found:

• Public education associations
• Advisory councils for education
• Associations of universities
• Governmental/state organizations
• Child Welfare Council
• Schools advisory services
• Schools for higher professional education
• Trades unions for education
• UNICEF
• EU
• OECD
• UNESCO
• Educational organizations
• Research institutions (such as the SCP)
• Youth policy organizations (such as the NJI)
• Centres for social development
• Youth welfare councils
• Scientific councils for government policy
• Child care organizations
• Knowledge centres about education

Career services BSS
Where do you want to work after your studies? You can contact Career Services already during your studies. They will help you orientate on your career, develop your skills, apply for jobs and find an internship.

Staff members

B.A.J. (Johannes) Westberg
Expertise: History of Education, including the history of school subjects, material culture, school finance, school architecture, and the teaching profession.
Courses: Education for a better World; Expertise, education and psychological practice
Current research: I am currently involved in a number of projects, and have a wide range of interests. In the academic year of 2020-21 I’m working on or finishing articles and chapters on the history of kindergartens; the transnational history of infant schools; the discourses of school crisis in Sweden; the nation, manliness and physical education; the roles of European ninteenth century school acts, the everyday lives of teachers, and the marketization of Swedish preschools.

B.E. (Brenda) Bartelink
Expertise: Anthropology of relationship building, gender relations, parenting and family in the context of diversity. I am interested in how people in everyday life deal with and respond to normative views and discourses about relationship building, parenting and upbringing. In my own research I mainly focus on how people navigate normative approaches to gender and sexuality in their daily lives. In increasingly diverse societies, such as the Dutch, there are also greater differences between how people approach this and what they encounter in it. As a qualitative researcher and ethnographer, I therefore mainly look at the everyday ethics that speak from the daily actions and lives of people. I publish on this subject with special attention to cultural and religious diversity.
Courses: Family and Family Pedagogy, Theoretical Pedagogy, Qualitative Methods
Current research: Religious and cultural diversity in youth care; Sexual and relational formation in upbringing and education; Mothers and Motherhood: Personal, Social and Political Meanings

D.D. (Diana) van Bergen
Expertise: my academic work focuses on ethnic- and sexual minority adolescents and emerging adults. I investigate topics such as youth's psychosocial development and mental health (particularly suicidality), in relation to the family context, victimization processes, and ethnic- and sexual minority discrimination or stigma.
Courses: Domain Specific Skills
Current research: I am currently involved in several research projects: 1) The background of suicide and suicidal behavior of young people in the Netherlands 2) a suicide prevention intervention study for LGBT Youth 3) Two projects about the wellbeing and (ethnic) identity development of ethnic minority youth ("Roots are Powerful" on foster children and "Father Absence" on Caribbean Dutch youth). 4) Ethical Dilemmas regarding Religious Issues in Foster Care.

J. (John) Exalto
Expertise: religion and education; early modern education; history of educational studies; freedom of education; Dutch school system; history of youth care
Courses: Ethics in Care and Education; In the Best Interest of the Child; Research Thesis; Traineeship
Current research: I am interested in early modern as well as modern ideas and practices of education. Currently, my research focuses on Philipp Abraham Kohnstamm and his role as one of the founders of Dutch educational studies. I’m also researching the ideas of the Bohemian philosopher John Amos Comenius and his educational legacy in the Netherlands.

L.W. (Lourens) van Haaften
Expertise: history of higher education; internationalisation of education; education and post-colonialism; test technologies in education; education and nation-building.
Courses: Citizenship Development and Education; In the Best Interest of the Child.
Current research: I am a historian with a broad interest in how education as a transnational phenomenon shapes contemporary societies. The focus of my work is on developments in India/South Asia. My research interests include issues related to business and management education, education and agriculture, education and citizenship development, the history of testing and assessment, governmentality and the geopolitics of education. In my research, I often draw inspiration from the history of knowledge and Science, Technology and Society studies.

S. (Sanne) Parlevliet
Expertise: cultural transmission, (the history of) children’s literature, children’s literature and national identification
Courses: In the interest of the Child 1 and 2
Current research: I am interested in the history of children’s literature, literature in culture, cultural transmission and representation. My current research focuses on identity and identification in historical fiction for children and the reciprocity between the history of children’s literature and the history of education. I am also starting up research on the influence of reading fiction on attitudes and behaviour towards minority groups.

S.M. (Sarahanna) Field
Expertise: Research methodology (both qualitative and quantitative, including the Delphi method and reform methodologies such as preregistration/registered report and replication, and ethnography), responsible research and innovation (RRI)
Courses: Domain-Specific Professional Skills; Ethics in Care and Education
Current research: I am a metascientist, meaning, broadly, that I use scientific methodology to study science itself. Within that, my research involves different themes, all involving ethical and responsible research practice. The main pillars of my research involve: 1. The scientific subcommunity (known by some as the open science community, the science reform movement, or ‘metascience’) that is interested in improving how research is conducted and disseminated. 2. Certain scientific methodologies, focusing on research ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI), and replication. 3. I am interested in ensuring that the voices represented in scientific discourse are diverse and varied.

P.A. (Piet) van der Ploeg
Expertise: Citizenship Education (philosophy, history), Progressive Education (philosophy, history), Philosophy of Education (incl. ethics, and history).
Courses: Introduction Ethics, Citizenship Education 1 and 2
Current research: Currently working on different projects:
*Teaching critical thinking (curriculum and didactics). Important aspect of 21^st century skills, citizenship education and Bildung. One of the foci is the relationship between critical thinking and arts education (in co-operation with some musea in Rotterdam and Amsterdam).
*The early 20^th century history of (thinking about and practicing) citizenship education in the US, Japan and China. Very interesting background of recent policies and practices; helping us to reflect on contemporary theories, research and discussions. *Ethics of parental involvement in education. Parental involvement is a “hot” issue in educational policy and school practice. Moral questions (f.i. regarding equality, privacy, parental autonomy, professional autonomy) are not always considered.
*The early 20^th century history of reform and progressive education (Montessori, Dalton Plan, Project plan etc. in the US, Japan and China). The international history of educational innovations is not only interesting for its own sake, but also instructive for new attempts to reform education.
*The history of the reception and interpretation of important philosophers of education (f.i. Dewey, Ballauff, and Ts’ai Yüan-p’ei). Thinking about education has always been a part of mainstream philosophy (since Plato). The same goes for 20^th century philosophy, in all traditions. Much to learn ...
See: https://xs4all.academia.edu/PietvanderPloeg