While school engagement is a recurrent problem, adolescents are known to have many interests, including subject-related ones. Interests are evidenced sources for learning, development and engagement, yet not always carefully complemented or developed further in school. We see upcoming and promising educational arrangements for interest development, yet their workings and impact are underresearched.

This research project is designed to study and conceptualize how schools and teachers support interest development, taking existing arrangements as an authentic variation of contexts for empirical study. The research project will identify and theorize various curricular and pedagogical strategies for interest development and their effects on interest development, school engagement and curricular choices over time.

This project is part of the interlinked research project ‘IDEA: Interest and Diversity in and beyond Educational Arrangements’ in collaboration with Utrecht University. It received funding from NRO.

S.F. Akkerman (UU) | Supervisor

M. Verhoeven (UU) | Supervisor