Fronteer launches new education team and website Fronteereducation.nl
Last week, Fronteer launched a brand new website focused on innovation in education. What started with the Jean School for the ROC in Amsterdam, has in recent years led to the development of 12 new vocational courses for various vocational schools (ROC’s) in the Netherlands.
“Co-creation with the professional field is more than a sentence in a policy plan. It is the future of vocational education. ” – James Veenhoff
Where it all started: The Jean School
In a distant past, James founded Amsterdam Fashion Week. With success, because the fashion event is still organised annually. Yet, James saw that Amsterdam, home to brands such as G-Star, Levi’s, KOI and Hilfiger, is much more of a jeans city than a fashion city. But with such a title comes a responsibility, is James’ belief: “the denim industry is one of the most polluting industries, so why not train the smart minds within the walls of our city to become sustainable denim innovators?”
As the founder of Fronteer, James has been spreading the co-creation gospel for years. The Jean School was founded in 2012 together with the above-mentioned jeans brands and teachers from the ROC. The world’s first denim developer course. Our co-creation method turned out to be an excellent way to develop future-oriented training courses that match the professional field.
Fronteer Education
Since then, an education team within Fronteer has been at the cradle of courses such as Urban Sports Trainer, a sports course using the city as its gym (ROCvA); the 010 E-Com Academy and the 010 Bar Academy training e-commerce talent and bar talent for the Rotterdam region (Zadkine College Rotterdam); The Blue School, a training for shop staff with denim expertise (ROC Mondriaan); House of Events, training to become an event producer (ROCvA).
On www.fronteereducation.nl, Fronteer’s Education team shares their approach, experience and the insights they have gained over the past 8 years. James: “Co-creation in education is not exactly Rocket Science, but an intimidating new dimension to the work for many staff members.” In the coming years, Fronteer’s Education team aims to help many more teachers, education innovators and board directors to make co-creation into their second nature. “Co-creation with the professional field is more than a sentence in a policy plan. It is the future of and for vocational education.”
Want to learn more about how we co-create in the educational sector? Get in touch! Read more about our approach and ‘roadmap’ for MBO innovation here.