Quinta Kools

Dr. Quinta Kools is a Professor in the Agile Education Professionals research group at Fontys Teacher Training College Tilburg (FLOT), part of Fontys University of Applied Sciences. She has extensive research experience in both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, with a focus on the professionalization of teachers and teacher educators through practice-based research strategies.

Dr. Kools obtained her PhD from Wageningen University for her research on the study choices of students in secondary agricultural education. Prior to her academic career, she worked for over eight years as a senior policy researcher at IVA Policy Research and Consultancy.

Her research interests center on teacher professional development, with particular emphasis on adaptive expertise, innovative teacher training methods, and the role of informal learning in professional growth. Dr. Kools investigates how teachers and teacher educators can develop the capacity to adapt to changing educational contexts through research-based professional development strategies.

Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on teacher education and professional development across various contexts. The research spans topics from hybrid teaching careers to informal learning in professional settings, reflecting her commitment to understanding and enhancing the development of educational professionals in rapidly changing educational landscapes.

Dr. Kools serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal for Teacher Education and previously chaired the Program Council for Practice-Oriented Education Research (PPO) of the Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO) from 2014 to 2019.

She has supervised numerous research projects focused on teacher professionalization, including the 'Promise' Erasmus+ project examining professional conduct of education professionals, and the 'SPRONG-voorwaarts' project focused on knowledge development and sharing between educational research groups. Her research often involves collaborative networks with international partners from England, Scotland, Germany, Slovenia, and Hungary.

As leader of the Agile Education Professionals research group, Dr. Kools works closely with learning communities where education professionals, pre-vocational secondary education (VMBO), intermediate vocational education (MBO), and higher professional education (HBO) collaborate intensively on curriculum and student guidance. Her work emphasizes the importance of shared responsibility in developing better healthcare workers and other professionals.