معرفی
Wendelien Vantieghem is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Diversity & Learning within the Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts & Philosophy at Ghent University. She also serves as research coordinator for multiple diversity-focused projects and has held visiting professor positions at Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
Her educational background includes a Master's degree in Sociology (2010) and an additional Master's in Health Education and Teacher Training, both from Ghent University. She earned her doctoral degree in Sociology from Ghent University in 2015 with a dissertation titled "Gender goes to school: The influence of gender norms on early adolescents' school functioning".
Dr. Vantieghem's research focuses on inequity in education across multiple dimensions including gender, sexual orientation, multilingualism, socio-economic background, ethnicity, and disability. Her work examines teachers' attitudes and competences regarding diversity, developing assessment instruments for educational equity, and creating inclusive learning environments. She has conducted extensive research using quantitative survey methods across Belgium, Central Europe, North America, Northern Europe, and Western Europe.
Her recent publications (2025) demonstrate a strong focus on measuring teacher competencies in diversity-responsive education, particularly in early childhood settings. The research shows growing interest in video-based assessment tools for professional vision, the experiences of marginalized students in higher education, and the connection between teacher beliefs and differentiated teaching practices.
Dr. Vantieghem leads and collaborates on numerous significant research projects including TACOS (2023-2027) on pre-primary teachers' language competences, ACCESS (2022-2026) analyzing exclusion systems in higher education, and the Hub Developing in Diversity (2019-2023). She previously coordinated the POTENTIAL project (2016-2019) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel focused on competence development for inclusive learning environments.
She directs the Centre for Diversity & Learning, which conducts the Diversity Barometer for Education and Diversity Screening for Education (DISCO). Her work bridges linguistic research with practical applications for educational equity, particularly through the Department of Linguistics at Ghent University.
