The top five for the 2024 Teacher of the Year Award From the left: Maartje Bulkens, Roel Dijksma, Jessica Duncan, Hannie van der Honing and Sjouke Kingma. Photo Resource Maartje Bulkens, Roel Dijksma, Jessica Duncan, Hannie van der Honing and Sjouke Kingma are the five finalists still vying for the Teacher of the Year Award. Who wins will be announced on Teachers Day on 10 December.
The jury surprised the teachers in the top five, or shortlist, this week. Each of them is to receive an individual education bonus of one thousand euros, to be spent as they wish. The winner will be presented with a special sculpture on 10 December.
Maartje Bulkens and Sjouke Kingma were featured on the longlist for the first time this year, and they also made it to the top five. Kingma: ‘Fantastic, a huge honour! Students’ appreciation motivates me. I invest much energy in my teaching, and the fact that this does not go unnoticed is great. It gives me energy.’ Bulkens: ‘This is quite far out of my comfort zone, which was the reason I accepted the nomination. Every teacher wants to offer students the best they can, as do I. I often doubt myself, so this confirmation is very welcome.’
For Roel Dijksma, Jessica Duncan and Hannie van der Honing, it is not their first time in the top five. Dijksma and Duncan won the Teacher of the Year award in 2016 and 2017, respectively. ‘I will never get used to this’, Dijksma says. ‘The longlist is very special. Feeling the students’ appreciation is fantastic throughout the year, both in the interaction with bachelor and master students and in various programmes and courses. This is certainly an incentive to do the very best I can to deliver top-quality education. The students deserve it.’
Podcasts
In July of this year, 1334 WUR students cast their vote on their favourite teacher. That resulted in a top ten, also known as the longlist. All of the teachers on that list were interviewed by a student jury, which then went on to select the top five. The same jury will choose the winner for Teachers Day. A new feature this year is that all the interviews were recorded as podcasts. These podcasts, which aim to inspire teachers, students and teaching staff, will be published leading up to the award ceremony.
The Teacher of the Year Award and Excellent Education Prizes will be presented on Tuesday, 10 December, from 16.00 to 17.30 hrs in Orion. Register here before Monday, 2 December.
