Mission vision

Mission

We want to make a difference for Dutch youth in European contexts - and therefore for all of us, because they shape our future.

The direct reason for establishing this foundation is to enable acquisition for the projects below. An ANBI foundation is essential to become eligible.

But the foundation's motivations lie deeper: concern for the quality of education and undermining trends such as the lack of well-trained, flexible-thinking and sustainably inspired teachers. Concern about the social consequences that this already has and will increasingly have for everyone who receives education: superficial involvement, populism, uncertainty about their own abilities among students, the experience of a gap between knowledge-that-is-needed and the demanding but often differently oriented world around them, fear and polarization.

This grim picture can also be turned around: wherever there are well-educated, well-equipped, committed and inspired people working in and around schools, they can make a huge difference.

Stichting Denkroute wants to provide them with views, advice and educational materials to make this difference. In doing so, it also wants to increase its own reach. The work that we ourselves (as advisors, researchers, authors, school leaders and teachers) try to do in an inspired way is satisfying, but also deserves a greater range of action.

Another aspect of this is that a division threatens to continue in Dutch education: children of parents who can afford 'shadow education' (childcare, tutoring, remedial teaching, homework guidance, exam training) or schools with a high parental contribution versus parents of children who have to make do with an eroding school, where the teachers present are in 'survival mode' because they do not have much confidence in their own teacher and resilience or because the workload is constant and sky-high.

We believe that education should enable a broad introduction of knowledge, insights, skills and attitudes, thereby facilitating equal opportunities and a deep sense of commitment to the society that lives together. We believe that this gives every newcomer roots and wings, but that this also transcends individual interests. This makes the pedagogical task of educators emphatically also a social task.

There is a lot of involvement among pupils and students in the Netherlands with the world around them. This is reflected, among other things, in the desire to travel. Young people want to go abroad and as soon as seniors get the chance, they also say they want to explore the world (again). They long for depth but often do not know where to find it and thus end up in touristic dumbing down and consumerism: bucket lists of locations that can be ticked off (and which unfortunately can often only be reached by plane). In the coming years, 'tourism in our own country and on our own continent' will necessarily increase again. There are learning opportunities and opportunities to increase involvement with nature, heritage, the unique and valuable aspects of culture and society.

Education also provides ways out, i.e. alternative paths. Fortunately, informal learning is gaining interest and appreciation again, just like project-based education. Many also have the experience and knowledge that it is a good remedy to look beyond borders - of the country, the bubble and one's own right - in order to be able to mirror and connect. We therefore also refer to the organizations with which we feel connected and inspired (see below).

Vision

We believe in active citizenship, fueled by teacher and resilience.

In order to utilize, celebrate and increase this, we want to jointly map out pathways through which we can learn and grow, so that connection with nature and culture is expressed. We believe we can contribute to a culturally vital society to which children, adults, their parents and teachers dare, want and can make their essential social contribution.

How does the Denkroutes Foundation want to achieve this?

The foundation tries to achieve its goal, among other things, by mapping out learning and thinking routes, finding them together with third parties, further developing and completing them or coaching participation in them.

This can take the form of:

Offering strategies and step-by-step plans that support, strengthen and extend learning, reasoning, contemplation and reflection;

Developing, deepening and/or expanding educational material;

Curriculum development, curriculum development or improvement;

Researching and publishing about the domains of culture, language, history, art history, heritage, society, nature and education – preferably a combination of these domains;

Guiding and/or advising on the use and development of educational materials and setting up educational projects about nature, society, heritage, language, art, culture and history;

Guiding and encouraging learning from and about the nearby environment;

To offer these services to individuals, companies and organizations. The intended target groups are children, young people and adults.

To shape these objectives through teaching materials, tool kits, lesson series, games, stories, scenarios, research, publications, websites, videos, applications, excursions, exhibitions, advice and guidance.

What is needed to achieve this goal (people and resources)

Having and maintaining a wide and active network is necessary to gauge and utilize necessity, need and possibilities. The board members have been selected with emphasis on this.

The idea is to have one project finance another. At the moment, the projects surrounding the graphic novel Jazzy and the footsteps of Bertha von Suttner have the best chance of fulfilling the role of financial engine. In the next five years the emphasis will be on finding a start in funding, goodwill and fame in the field, which will make it easier for further projects to get off the ground.

Time is the most important resource for this.