Authentic learning environments in many variants have found a prominent place in the higher and vocational education agenda (Herrington & Herrington, 2006). As a consequence, design guidelines for authentic learning environments have received a lot of scientific attention (Herrington & Oliver, 2000). The teacher has been established as an essential element for realizing high-quality learning environments. Furthermore, Webster-Wright (2009) has shown that teachers especially benefit from training in authentic environments for their professional development. However, the roles and tasks of teachers in authentic learning environments have received little attention up till now.

In other educational innovations such as competence based education (Wesselink, 2010) and student-oriented higher education (Tigelaar et al, 2004 and Gilis et al, 2008) efforts have been done  to identify roles and tasks of teachers. Results of these efforts might help to identify roles and tasks of teachers in authentic learning environments, but they have not yet been used to that end.

This research explores roles and tasks of teachers involved in an authentic learning environment

called ‘regional atelier’. In The Netherlands regional ateliers have arisen to face complex geophysical and societal issues (e.g. climate change, decreasing biodiversity, social and economic decline). In the regional atelier a diverse group of stakeholders from government, private institutions, entrepreneurs, NGO’s, inhabitants, research and education cooperate in real life authentic  projects to stimulate regional innovation and foster sustainability (Foorthuis, 2005).

As a learning environment, the regional atelier is especially authentic because the school with its teachers and students, is an equivalent partner to the other regional stakeholders. Together they form  a community of innovative learners. Seen from teachers’ perspective,  this means that teachers leave the school and broaden their tasks by actively participating in a multi-stakeholder process. At the same time, they retain their normal responsibilities regarding, for instance,  the supervision of students and the assessment of their learning results. This participative role combined with the supervising role of the teacher is very different from teacher roles in other, more traditional, types of learning environments. 

The objective of this study is to identify and validate the tasks and roles of teachers in the authentic learning environment regional atelier. This objective will be met by answering the research question  which roles and tasks teachers should perform in order to optimally contribute to the development of both the region and the student.

Delbecq, A. L. Van der Ven, A., & Gustafson, D. (1975). Group techniques for programme planning: a guide to nominal group and Delphi processes. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman. Foorthuis, W. (2005). De leefomgeving centraal: Action Learning in de Werkplaats Plattelandsvernieuwing. In: B. W. M. Boog, M. Slagter, I. Jacobs-Moonen & F. Meijering (Eds) Placing the Living Environment in the Centre: Action Learning in the Workplace Rural Development, pp. 142 – 153 (Assen, The Netherlands: Van Gorcum). Gilis, A., Clement, M., Laga, L. & Pauwels, P. (2008). Establishing a competence profile for the role of student-centred teachers in higher education in Belgium. Research in Higher Education, 49, 531-554. Herrington, A. & Herrington, J. (2006). Authentic Learning Environments in Higher Education. Hershey, US: Information Science Publishing Herrington, J. & Oliver, R. (2000). An instructional design framework for authentic learning environments. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48, 23-48 Strauss, A. L. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Tigelaar, D. E. H., Dolmans, D. H. J. M., Wolfhagen, I. H. A. P., Van Der Vleuten, C. P. M. (2004). The development and validation of a framework for teaching competencies in higher education. Higher Education, 48, 253-268. Webster-Wright, A. (2009). Reframing professional development through understanding authentic professional learning. Review of Educational Research, 79, 702-739. Wesselink, R. (2010). Comprehensive competence-based vocational education. The development and use of a curriculum analysis and improvement model. Wageningen, The Netherlands. Dissertation Wageningen University.