(Video is Dutch spoken)
On 7 September, the 'dual education' project was kicked off at the Stedelijk Lyceum Eilandje in Antwerp, in the presence of Flemish Minister of Work and Economy Hilde Crevits and Minister of Education Ben Weyts. The pilot project is intended to help bridge the gap between education and business.
Three of the twelve specialists who are keen to share their knowledge with young people come from INEOS Oxide in Zwijndrecht. Every Wednesday, R&D engineer Bram Van Wettere will teach system hydraulics to four classes in Sint-Carolus in Sint-Niklaas. Together with the students, he will test the theory against practice, with machines from INEOS.
"They can experiment with this to see how it works," he told Radio 2 in an interview. "If certain applications from working life can be linked to this, this also has added value for the students, of course. That way they can see why theory is so important."
This and next school year, 12 professionals will share their knowledge and teach 4 hours a week in a secondary school. They temporarily replace the teacher, work together with a teacher or supervise a project week.
Three of the teachers work at INEOS Oxide. The other teachers come from BASF, Eastman, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Pfizer and Vynova. The dual teaching is an initiative of the Flemish government and chemical umbrella organisation essenscia and starts as a two-year pilot project in 10 schools.