Luce Claessens

Dr. Luce Claessens is an Associate Professor at the Department of Education within the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Utrecht University. Her career spans roles from PhD Candidate to Postdoc and Lecturer, culminating in her current associate professorship. She coordinates the teacher training program for primary school teachers and specializes in interpersonal theory, qualitative data analysis, and teacher professionalization.

• Education:
  • Master in Educational Psychology (University of Arizona, 2006-2008)
  • Degree in Elementary School Teaching (Marnixacademie, 2002-2004)
  • Bachelor in Educational Sciences (Utrecht University, 2001-2003)
  • Master in Cultural Anthropology (Utrecht University, 1996-2002)

Research Focus: Her work examines teacher-student relationships from the teacher’s perspective, integrating social cognition, motivation, and relational expertise development. She applies dynamic systems approaches to analyze real-time interactions and behavioral patterns.

Key Publications: Recent outputs include books like Klassenmanagement vanuit een interpersoonlijk perspectief (2024) and articles on remote reading education (2023), interpersonal adaptation (2018), and classroom social climate (2014). Her research bridges qualitative analysis with educational policy.

Teaching: Claessens supervises Bachelor’s and Master’s theses and contributes to the Academic Teacher Training Primary Education program. Her practical experience includes teaching at an urban primary school in Utrecht and developing digital learning materials (SLO, 2003).