Every month, under the heading ‘Getting acquainted with…’ we give the floor to an NNVO employee. He or she tells something about him- or herself and about working at NNVO. This month it is Evi Achten’s turn, who has worked with us as an educationalist since early September.
Who is Evi Achten?
“I am an ambitious educationalist of 30 and I speak the Brabant dialect. I also live there, in Eindhoven. In my free time I regularly exercise (bootcamp, running and yoga) and in winter I like to go skiing. Every now and then you can find me on the water for leisure. Although I have little or no knowledge of the nautical sector as a professional group, I am someone who keeps rowing, even against the current. Improving education effectively, efficiently and satisfactorily is my passion. At NNVO I try to contribute to this every day. Key words of my style are respect, connection and curiosity.”
What work experience do you have?
“After the teacher training for primary education (Pabo) I worked at a private school in The Hague. And then at primary schools in Amsterdam of various educational concepts: from Dalton and Montessori to innovative and mainstream education. After several years I returned to Eindhoven, where I also worked at schools with various educational concepts. My additional task was supporting the school management as an educationalist. I have seen a lot, which broadened and enriched my view. The past few years I combined my job as a teacher and educationalist with a Pedagogy pre-master study programme followed by an Educational Sciences master programme at the University of Amsterdam. I also worked parttime at a start-up as a project leader and developer. In this role I set up several online modules for entrepreneurs.”
Can you describe an average working week?
“At the moment I mainly work from home. No two working days are the same. Recurring themes are weekly supporting, organising and developing (new) educational systems. I don’t do this alone, but together with the team of educationalists at NNVO. I have recently mostly worked on practical education issues in the field of guidance and examining. In the near future I will be working on education and learning in times of social distance. What aspects do we want to carry forward? What do we want to get rid of and where are we heading? We are constantly improving and growing. This gives me energy.”
What makes your work interesting?
“The fact that I work on a daily basis with subjects having to do with learning, training and developing. That’s what makes my heart as an educationalist beat faster. The more difficult the challenge, the more interesting it becomes. In addition, we are regularly evolving and pioneering. I love that, because in this way we will get the education quality and education continuity that we seek to promote. So, I’m very enthusiastic. My role as an educationalist at NNVO is becoming more and more interesting by the day.”
