Prof. Dr. Els Consuegra

Els Consuegra graduated as a Master in Educational Sciences and started working as the Internship and Teacher Professionalisation Coordinator at the Teacher Education Department at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Currently she is a PhD candidate in the Educational Sciences Department at the VUB and she is working on the project "Teaching in the Bed of Procrustes". This interuniversity project is funded by the Flemish government agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT) and is aimed at reducing boys' and girls' drop-out in secondary education. Els is focusing on gender-specific aspects of teacher-student relationships (perception) and interactions (behavior). Using large-scale survey, interviews and classroom observation in a quasi-experimental design she assesses the effects of an inquiry-based professional development program for teachers on gender-sensitive pedagogy. Another topic Els has been studying is the feminisation of the teaching profession. Beside her research, Els is an editorial board member for the Dutch-Flemish journal "Tijdschrift voor Hoger Onderwijs" and she is the Vice-Chairman of the Governance Board of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.