Learning hurts by Toine Sterk

Students who expect to be taken by the hand will be deceived by Toine Sterk. The 58-year-old communication teacher puts his students out of balance so that they are forced find their proper balance. Because finding our own balance is the most important thing. "Knowledge transfer is so fifties. Teaching never is about answers. It's about questions.”

Toine wants to change the way people see education and is not afraid to share his vision. "Students expect me to tell them what to do. I don't do that. Of course you can't start from scratch. But anyone can google a lot of knowledge that young people need. They need to start working with that knowledge. That is what I am for. I create opportunities so that they can use the knowledge they already have.”

It’s about the process
An unusual approach in education. "In education we often stop things moving and we look at it from all sides." But that is a thing of the past when it comes to Toine. "It's not about providing the answer, or even looking for that. Learning is all about the question and the process towards the demand. Students must learn to ask that question themselves. Thát is development."

To get there, students have to look for their own balance. Toine helps them with that. “By asking difficult questions that make them think," he says.
It's annoying if you want to know something as quickly as most students do. Or if you as a student are not yet ready for Toine's vision. "It takes students a number of years before they are ready to think that way. But in the long run it has a lot of effect”.

Give it a swing
To change education, more people like the 58-year-old father of two are needed. Together with a number of colleagues at the HAS, they developed some of their ideas further. "You have to start working with it. Compare it to a gyroscope. As long as it's in motion, it stays balanced. When you stop it, it falls over. The same principle applies to people, if you don't give them a swing, every now and then, they forget to look for balance.”

Uncomfortable
Expect a lot of movement during Toine's talk. Not only from Toine himself, but also from you as a visitor. Because it is certain that you will slide back and forth in your chair. "I'm going to ask a lot of questions and you're going to feel uncomfortable because of that", warns the TEDxVenlo speaker. "That feeling will last a few weeks, if not more.”
You have been warned!

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